


The Mocking Jay Sings Again

by Ariadne_Karpusi



Series: Untitled Hunger Games Stuff [1]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: AU, F/M, It's done, Some Romance, Violence, at least this part, but naw, my first work on here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 22:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 48
Words: 52,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4496844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariadne_Karpusi/pseuds/Ariadne_Karpusi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(( Just to let you know this is an AU that after Mocking Jay the games are still alive and well so yeah this is my idea. This is based mostly off of the first book okay.))</p><p>The girl on fire has faded, but as they say if one door closes another one will open. Well the next door opens to her daughter, the spark, the hanging tree. And in this years game, she proves that after time and time, being pushed to her limit, She shows that she is not one to be messed with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I groaned as I felt something shift next to me. When I sat up, I saw my younger brother, Rye, laying next to me. This became a habit for him, ever since his time for his first reaping came. I knew that my mother and father weren't going to be with us for this one.You see, My parents were former victors in the hunger games, and this will be their first year being mentors for District Twelve's tributes. My godfather, Haymitch, was just too old to mentor this year. It was up to me to get Rye up and into his nice clothing for the reaping. Before waking up my brother, I slid out and headed into my bathroom to clean myself. I took a shower and got out ,braiding my hair like my mother would normally do for me.

 

Alot of people told me that I did look like my mother, expect for my eyes. My eyes were like my father's, they were a light blue that almost always matched the sky. After I was finished getting in my grandmother's blue dress, I went back into my room. My brother was already up and trying to button up his dress shirt, or well our father's dress shirt which was a bit too big on him. " Willooooww, Can you help me?" He asked as he turned around. I smiled and shook my head at him, before going and helping him with his shirt. " Come on Duckie, We don't want to be late." I tell him as I fix up his shirt. He groans at the childish nickname, but I just smile. He's always been like this, he'd act embarrassed by the nicknames he was given, but I knew that he like it. After slipping on our socks, we made our way from our large kitchen, where our dad had already set out a plate with fresh sweet buns on it for us. I had to swat away Rye's hand as I was pulling on my shoes. " No, we can't have them yet, you know that they're for after the reaping." I waited for Rye to put on his shoes, before I ushered him to the square.

 

There at the square, I caught eye of my friend Newt. Newt was a thin boy, with ashy blonde hair and blue eyes, almost like my dad. Often times, Mom would tease me a bit, saying that I would marry someone like my father one day. I shook my head and smiled as I saw Rye run towards him and the boys duck off into their section. On stage were four chairs, One for the mayor, one for the District Twelve escort, Denio, and two for my parents. Once everyone is gathered in, and settled down, The mayor makes his speech about the hunger games...Honestly I've had it memorized for years now and I just tend to tune him out. After that, our parents are introduced and brought onto stage. Soon Denio went over to the bowl filled with the female names. Five of those slips in there had Willow Mellark written on it, and in the boy's bowl had two with Rye Mellark. Denio gave everyone a grin, before dipping her hand into the female bowl. When she withdrew the slip from the bowl, there was almost a collective gasp from the females. Denio opened the slip and taped on the microphone, and then she read the name. " Willow Mellark."

My breath was caught in my throat as I heard my name being called. This couldn't be happening to me. I caught a glimpse of my parent's face, they both looked very distressed. Everyone in front of me cleared out a path for me. As I walked, I tucked my dress in closer to me and slowly passed my brother and Newt. Both looked very sad as my footsteps echoed in the silent streets as I went to mount the stage. Denio smiled and clapped her hands ,almost trying to encourage everyone else to clap . Everyone took their three middle fingers and pressed them to their lips, before holding them up in the air. A hunting whistle rang out, first from behind her, the echoing all around. Denio looked around confused, before she cleared her throat and went to the bowl filled with the male's names. She reached her hand in and pulled out a slip. Her annoyingly bright high heels clicked against the ground as she opened up the slip. " Rye Mellark." Even before Rye could move, the voice rang out. " I volunteer as tribute!" ....I knew that voice..... It was Newt! He pushed his way through the crowd and stood in the path way. " I volunteer as tribute!" He said again, before he was escorted up to the front stage. Denio helped him up onto the stage and pushed him towards the microphone. " I bet that was someone you know." She said as she clapped her hands.

" I present to you, District Twelve tributes!" She said happily, " Go on, shake hands." Instead of shaking hands, we hugged each other tightly. Quickly we were ushered into the Justice building. This is where we get visitors. No surprise that my first visitors were my parents and my brother. Though Rye tried to put on a look that he was a tough boy, he was about to break down when I hugged him tightly. I pressed a soft kiss to his head, and began to tell him what to do. I instructed him to listen to his teachers, and do his work, and listen to whoever our parents put in charge.Next, were my parents, though they would see me, there was the chance that I would never come back again. Mom hugged me tightly, and while she held me, she gave me a piece of advice I wont ever forget. " Do what ever it takes to get home, even if that means to lie." I sniffled and nodded, before I was embraced tightly by my father. " You can do it sweetie." He said softly as he kissed my head again and again. Soon they were taken out, and Al was brought in. Al was a good friend of Mine and Newt's. He was quick in his introductions, before he produced a small thing. The little thing was a necklace with a few small willow tree branches with tiny leaves on it, but a piece of bark was fashioned as the trunk. " I wanted you to take this with you, you know since they let you take one thing from your district. " He said softly as He walked forward and clipped it around my neck. Al cupped my cheeks and forced me to look at him. " Willow, Listen to me, you have to come back. There is so many people counting on you. You need to win, and we'll all be rooting for you....I'll even try to start up a fund for you for a sponsorship." He said as he held me close. Our tender moment was broken by the peacekeepers pulling us apart, telling that time was up.


	2. Chapter 2

On rare occasions, I rode the train with my parents to do some weird business with being victors and all, so I was used the grandness of everything. Newt and I stood in the entrance of the train and let the cameras take in our image. Before the train door closed, Newt placed a quick kiss on my cheek to show that we were a force together, not separate. When we were finally out of the corridor, My father took Newt down a hall to his own room, and My mom took me to my own room. She told me that the clothing in here was mine to try on and do whatever I wanted with them, but to be ready for dinner in an hour. Once she left, I quickly took of the light blue dress and went into my bathroom. I cleaned myself rather quickly, before drying off and wrapping my body in a towel. When I looked through the drawers, there were piles of fancy clothing in here for me to wear. It made me sad to think of how many dead females wore these clothing. I pushed my hair back from my eyes, before I pulled out a pretty grey colored dress to wear. As I slipped off my grandmother's dress, I shivered as I stripped down. I felt so strange, would people think I'm weird and unattractive in the Capitol? I mean I've been told that I am pretty, and I've had a few boys ask me out, but will I be up the standards of the Capitol?

I sighed again and pulled on the dress. The dress was soft and hugged my developing curves. I adjusted the small belt around my waist, before my mother knocked on the door and called for me. " Willow, Come on, you need to start to eat..It's best if you put on a few pounds before the games." She said as she stood in the doorway. My mother looked so sad, she didn't want to do what she had to, but she did it because it was the right thing to do. I nodded and slipped on a matching pair of flats, and headed into the eating cart. My father was there with Newt, and they seemed to talking over strategy. Newt turned back and smiled at her, motioning to the spot next to him. " Come on, your dad was just giving me a piece of advice for getting sponsors. " He said with a small laugh. I felt my cheeks flush just the slightest as he addressed me. Of course, there were many girls that liked him. What wasn't there to like? He was smart, sweet, kind, and very funny. I made my way to the empty spot, and settled in next to him.

My mother pushed a plate of food in front of me and motioned for me to eat. " So thinking about strategy, I mean what works to get sponsors?" He asked as he looked at my father. It was hard to think that Newt and My father weren't related. They had the same wavy blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, they even had..well as my mom described the lost puppy dog look whenever they saw someone they loved. I laughed softly as I began to eat the roast beef in front of me. " Well the best strategy is to be in love, or act like it. " I paused my eating and I felt the tips of my ears turn red. " What do you mean by that?" My voice came a bit stronger that I expected. 

A laugh came from both of my parents, before my mother answered. " You have to act like you're in love, like you can't live life without him. People eat it up like candy." She said as she just gave a small shake of her head.

My mom was right. When I had been changing, I saw the reactions of the people to our reaping. They thought it was sad and sweet that two young lovers would be forced to compete in the games. People cooed and awed at the last image of us, him kissing my cheek and my blushing, before we headed off into the train.

" Eat up Willow, we'll be at the Capitol soon." My father said as I then caught a glimpse of our surroundings from the near by train window. We must have been going through District Nine at this point. All around us were fields full of golden colored grain . My hand dipped down and touched Newt's, and when he felt my hand touch his, he gripped my hand tightly. I must have blocked out my parents talking, but one piece of advice stuck out. " When you get to the capitol, stand at the window and wave to the people. They'll like you better if they can see you." My head perked up from my plate, and I looked at them. " Really? Well I would have never thought that.. What should our strategy be for interviews? I'm not good with people.." My voice trailed off as I grabbed a light brown roll and bit down on it.

My father started," Follow along with the questions that Caesar asks, act playful and girly okay? do mention the fact that you and Newt are in love and all." He said as he looked the both of us. Newt nodded and got himself a cookie, before mulling over the idea. " Do you think that we could do it? I mean, I don't want you both to get mad at me." He told them quietly, before He turned and gave me a look. " Including you, I mean you're the only one I can count on in there." He said before flashing me a small grin. '

Now it was time for me to speak. What was my choice on this?I mean it wouldn't be hard for me to pretend that I was in love with him, It was just it might not work with us having to kill each other. 

Seeming to sense my distress, Mom spoke up. " Guys I think that it would be good for you guys to get some sleep." She said as she locked eyes with me. I nodded and got up, giving both my parents and Newt a hug. I turned around, and made my way slowly to my room. Once I reached my room, and changed into night clothing, I fall into my bed. I was curled up in my fluffy bed, and as I finally asleep, I did not have a dream, I had a memory come to me.


	3. Chapter 3

The memory came to me clear as day. Al,Newt and I were settled under a tree in the school yard, and we were chatting idly, when we saw last year's tribute's siblings talking together. I turned to both of them and bit my lip softly. " Would you two talk to and comfort Rye if I got reaped?" I asked as I looked forward. "Willow, don't you worry about him. We'll keep him company." Al said with a small smile.

Newt laugh and nodded, nudged me with a wide smile. " Willow do you think that we would let him be all alone, besides we love the little bugger like he was our own brother." He said , before wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him." Don't you speak like that, You won't get reaped and I don't want you to talk like that." Newt said in a hushed tone with almost a mixed sense of hurt and sacredness in his voice.

I don't know why I remembered this so well. It seemed to be so long ago. I remembered the tightness that he held onto my shoulder and the way he looked at me afterwards. The look scared me, it was like a wolf watching over it's pack member.

Something brought me out of my dream. " Come on. Get up, it's a big day for you."A squeaky voice intoned above me. Of course, it had to be her. " Okay Denio, I'm getting up." I said as I sat up and cracked my neck. I had to laugh at Denio's cringing at my actions, if she reacted like this, I know Capitol people most definitely will find me strange. Once she had left, I got up and dressed myself quickly, so I could eat. I dressed in the same grey dress, it wasn't dirty, just slightly rumpled.

Everyone else was gathered in the dining car, already starting breakfast. Once I sat down, and began to eat, My father gave us our next piece of advice. " When you get to the remake center, you will feel things that you won't like, but you're going to have to go through with it because your stylists will make you appealing to sponsors." He said as he bit into a pastry. " Peeta's right, I mean really, your stylists will help you get sponsors, you wont like what they do but-" She paused as the train went into darkness. " Get to the window." They said at the same time, pulling each of us up and nudging us towards the window.

We stood at a window, and once we re- entered the light, we smiled and waved to those who fawned and squealed over our arrival. When we stopped, we were pulled out of the train rather quickly and soon I would figure out the meaning behind to be beautiful is to have pain.


	4. Chapter 4

I sighed as I felt Venus and Octavian scrub me down for what seemed like the third time. My stylist had apparently really wanted to work with me ever since she saw my reaping. Venus was a slightly chubby woman whose colors didn't seem to match. Her hair was bright yellow, her dress and heels were deep pink, and her skin was a gem like blue. Octavian seemed a bit more put together than Venus at this point. He looked at himself in the mirror and primped his seemingly duck fluff black hair. In my opinion, Octavian was kinda handsome in his own way, but this fashion sense ruined him.

My attention was brought from him, to the new person in the room. The woman was apparently my stylist. She was extremely gorgeous. The lady had long, straight blonde, almost whitish hair, blue eyes lighter than mine and pale skin with no blemishes. She smiled at me and offered her hand to me. "My name's Aphrodite, and I'm here to help you look beautiful." She said in a sweet and smooth voice. I nodded and let her lead me to a new room. 

As the trio worked on me, I barely listened to the explanation of my outfit. It was something about dying embers, and how I would be lit on fire. I snapped out of it," What?!" Venus and Octavian had been applying a special powder to my whole body that gave me a golden shimmer, almost akin to that of a dying flame. Aphrodite stood in front of me again. " Listen, you won't get hurt by it, it will just feel warm. We've tested this out, and it's safe. " She said as she showed me the dress.

From how far away I was from her, the dress looked like it could have been carved from two pieces of coal itself. Octavian brushed my hair back one last time to give me a tousled look. The dress was then given to me and I slipped it on. The dress was just as soft, even softer than the one I wore on the train. After they slipped the matching shoes, and turned me around, I almost gasped at my reflection.

The dress had ruffles that mimicked the grooves and cuts in coal. The thing clung to my form quite nicely and made me look very mature. Aphrodite gave me a twirl, before helping me out of the room. We walked down a long row of different colored horses. " Don't worry." She murmured to me, " You'll do great." Once we reached the end of the line, they helped me up onto the chariot. 

Newt stood by side me and smiled. He wore an outfit that looked alot like mine, except for the fact that his outfit was like a suit really. Aphrodite handed me a little remote, " Here, just click this button and you'll light up." She said before we were sent off. Newt grabbed my hand tightly as we were sent off into a brightly lighted area. People cheered when they saw us, they went wild when they saw our interlocked hands. I smiled and tried to wave. These people made me sick. They were cheering us on when they knew that we might die. My finger slipped and pressed the button, then the crowd cheered louder. 

Newt and I glowed a bright yellow, almost like the yellow of a flickering flame. As our chariot pulled us along, the light of our outfits slowly flickered down to a deep red. The body powder that they had put on us matched the flickering of the outfits. Though cameras followed all the tributes, but they lingered on us for most of the time.

As they took us back into the stables, I felt happy as now they knew who I was and what I would bring to these games


	5. Chapter 5

I had been in a deep sleep, dreaming about a life where Newt and I were married, and we had two children and they played happily in the meadows. " Willow!" I jumped up and looked around frantically, before I saw that mom was standing above me with a grin on her face. " Come on, Training starts today." She said, before hitting my leg. I got up and cracked my neck, before washing myself clean. After changing into a dark outfit that was laid out for me, I headed out to the dining area. 

Newt,My parents, and Denio were settled around a table, chatting over breakfast. Newt wore an outfit like mine, it was dark and it had a small blank space on the back. He walked over and handed me a slice of toast, before My parents piped up. " Come on, Hurry up. we need to get training. " As I took a bite of my breakfast, I walked to the table and took a seat next to my mom.

" So, Guys, how do you want to be trained? Together or Separate?" She asked us. I munched on my toast for a thoughtful minute, before answering. " Separate." I said as I looked up. Everyone seemed to look at me confused. " What? I mean, Come on. What if I have a talent that I don't want him to know?" My mom laughed and shook her head slightly. " Well alright, come on, finish up and we'll head off."

As I ate the last bit of the toast, we headed to the elevator. As my parents shuffled us in, Newt laughed slightly and touched my face, and brushed something off. " Sorry, you had crumbs.." He said with a laugh. The elevator dissented into the basement, and we were met with a line of the other tributes. We were the last ones in the line of course. Someone pinned something to our backs, and I saw that it was a piece of cloth with the number twelve.

We all filed into a wide arc, listening to the lady tell us what we should do. Newt held my hand tightly, before the lady said we could go off and train. My hand slipped from his, before I gave him one last smile. 

I walked off in one direction, going to the camouflage, rope tying,water purification, plant identification centers. I met a few of my opponents at the centers. Dalt from District 10, Rau and Orchid from District 11, and Ann from District 4. After going around, I spotted something. It was a bow and a quiver full of arrows. Mom taught me how to shoot in the woods, but I was not as nearly as good as mom.

After looking around, I quickly ran and ducked down, picking up the arrows and bow. I quickly lined up my shot, and before I could let it go, I was interrupted. " Hello There." A deep voice said. I spun wildly and turned to face the voice. My eyes were filled with the sight of a boy. He was from one of the higher districts of course. He was tall, and muscular, and sort of good looking.

The boy dipped down and looked at me, looking me over as if he was debating something." Uh Hello?" I asked as I took a step back from him. " I've been watching you." He said with an almost cat like grin. My eyebrows shot up and I gave him a cautious look. " Oh don't worry, it's nothing bad, I wanted to make a deal with you." He said as he straightened up, and smiled at me. " I'm Julius. " He told me as he stuck out his hand. I slowly reached out and shook his hand.

" Oh, Hi Julius.. What do you want to make a deal about?" I asked him, as I my other hand tightened around the bow. He laughed slightly, and ducked his head. I liked that laugh for some reason. It was deep, and happy, and it made me want to laugh too. " Well, I saw you, and you know alot of plants..., and I was wondering if you could teach me.." He asked as he looked at me, his eyes meeting mine. " What will I get in return?" I asked him as my hip jutted out slightly.

" I could teach you how to fight with a sword, or a spear.. or anything really." He said as he shrugged slightly.

What he was offering, I could use. I was talented with a bow, knife and I could fight hand to hand pretty well. I nodded and took his hand in mine again, shaking it tightly. " You've got a deal Julius." I said with a smile.

So for the rest of the day, I trained him in plant identification, and he trained me with a sword.

That night,when we gathered again for dinner..Newt seemed different. I was next to my mom, and across from him. As I ate my food, it was chicken tonight, Newt asked me a question. " So did you make a new friend today?" He asked, his tone sounding a bit jaded. I paused, and then looked at him. " Yeah..He was just training me." He glared at me slightly, before going back to his food. " Oh really? Why were his arms around you?" He asked as he stopped cutting up his chicken.

I paused, and gave him a serious look. " Newt.. there's nothing going on between us." I said softly, before Newt got up, frustrated and headed off down the hall to his room. My parents looked at me, and I just shook my head, before heading off to see him.


	6. Chapter 6

My feet made a small tapping noise, as I went to his room. I tapped on the door gently, and there was no answer. I was just about to turn away, but Newt opened the door. " Willow?" He said softly, and I spun on my heel. " I'm sorry..I shouldn't have snapped at you.." He told me softly, before he made his way to me.

As I was a about to say something, but his arms coming around me, shut me up. He pulled me against him, and I closed my eyes. He felt comfortable to me. His thin, but muscular felt comfortable to me. His chin rested against my head as I sighed. He gave me a gentle squeeze, before pulling away. " I'm sorry." We both said at the same time. We laughed and just shook our heads. The whole stress of everything was weighing down on us.

Newt leaned forward and brushed a stray hair from my face. " Willow, you need to go to sleep." He said softly as He gave me another smile." Night." I said softly as I rubbed my arm slightly. " Night Willow." He told me, before I turned from him and headed back down to my room.

That night I slept pretty soundly, curling up in my big, comfy bed. In the morning, I quickly dressed and headed out to breakfast. Today, I would train with my dad. Mom trains me in the arena aspects of the hunger games, fighting and such, but Dad will teach me how to act in an interview.

When I walked into the room, My father and Denio were already waiting. Denio was holding what seemed to be a large white dress that would puff out way beyond my actual body, and my dad held the matching shoes. After what seemed to be an eternity, I walked out of the changing room in the dress and wobbled slightly in the heels. 

Back home, Mom kept a few pairs hidden away in the closet, and a few select times, she would let me wear them. I would stumble and wobble at first, but as Mom told me, it was a given.

Denio and My father had me walking around in the dress and heels, answering questions they asked, and just smiling.

When it came time for me to switch with Newt, I was all too grateful. I changed into my training outfit and headed out to meet my mom. That day, we practiced grabbing things at the cornucopia. After training, and when it was time for lunch, Newt and I settled in at a table far away from the careers. We started to eat, and chat about training, and what we both learned.

About half way through our meal, two other tributes sat down. It was the District 11 tributes. They sat next to us, and the girl gave me a smile. " Uh, Hello." Newt said as he paused his eating. I laughed softly, and shook my head. " Newt, Her name is Orchid, and He's Rau." I said, before I dug into my hot cereal.

Orchid smiled at me and we shared a small laugh as the boys looked at each other. I rolled my eyes and continued to eat,before Orchid spoke to me. " Have you seen that District One boy looking at you?" She asked softly as we looked at the career table. I nodded and smiled slightly, " Yeah, His name is Julius.." I told her softly as I caught him staring at me. I felt my cheeks heat up, before I turned away.

" How do you know him? The careers are so smug that they won't give anyone else a second thought. " She said as she shook her head. " I know what you mean, the district two guy pushed me out of the way when I went to the fire starting station." Newt said with a slight bitter tone.

We continued to talk for the rest of lunch, before we headed back to training That day was more of prep for the game maker's session. That night, I fell into bed with a slight thud, before drifting off into a fitful sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

For most of the morning, I just prepped for my session with the gamemakers. I trained with a few assistants, but they were just too slow for me. After a bit, we were shuffled into the waiting area, and now this was the worst part, waiting.

After the longest time, the kids in the room dwindled down to just Newt and I, and then he was called in. " Good Luck." I called out as he made his way to the training area. After a bit of picking at my nails, my name was finally called. My special talent is avoiding fights. No I'm being serious.

I walked into the training area, and bowed slightly to the gamemakers. " Willow Mellark. District Twelve." I said, before turning to the man standing in front of me. He gave me a bit of an encouraging smile, before he braced himself. I readied myself ,and started the pattern. My godfather had drilled the pattern into my head ever since I was thirteen. Kick, spin, flip, and try to disarm the person.

I only had one or two's attention, so I decided to amp it up. I dashed off, and quickly ran over to the frog boards. I jumped into between them, and gave the trainer a chase. It was fun, and it seemed to catch the game makers attention.

We wrestled, and tumbled around, until I was dismissed. I headed up to our floor, and met Newt up there. He smiled, and pulled me down next to him. " So how do you think you did?" He asked as I leaned against him. " I don't know, maybe a seven." I told him, as I stretched out my legs. " What about you?" He shrugged, " I don't know, at least a five." He told me, before gently tugging on my braid. " Guess we'll find out later."

That night was so nerve wracking. We sat in the living room, and the scores started to be announced. Newt held my hand tightly, giving me a squeeze when his name came up. " Newt Dreger,District Twelve, 7." Caesar said slowly as his head shot appeared. His stylists and my mom patted him on the back. " Willow Mellark, District Twelve, 10." He said as my own headshot appeared on screen.

What? Ten?! I couldn't believe it. Newt tackled me to the ground, and my mom had the biggest smiles on her face.

" Good Job, You must have really impressed them in there." My mom said as I looked up at her from the floor. " and, that will help us alot in getting you two sponsors." Mom mentioned as I pulled myself up from the ground. " Well I guess that's good then." I said as I dusted myself off.

In the misted of everything, I just noticed something. " Where's dad?" I asked as my head turned back and forth. Mom looked at me and shook her head. " I don't know, he was behind me when we got onto the elevator. " She told us as we looked around.

 

Soon, the elevator dinged, and all of our heads whipped in that direction. My father was talking to someone on a little device. We were all quiet when we saw that he was talking. Once finished, He looked at us and a small grin came over his face.

 

" Well look who's befriended the wolf pack."


	8. Chapter 8

"No!"

 

That was the first thing I heard in response to my father's news. I know it didn't come out of my mouth, and the voice didn't sound like my mom's. I looked over, and saw Newt. His eyes were wide, and his hands were just barely trembling.

 

I looked at him sort of confused, and reached out, taking his hand in mine. " Newt what's wrong? that's great news!" I said as his head whipped to the side to face me. " Willow, don't you see? The career pack is our biggest enemy here! If we befriend them, then their gonna stab us in the back." He said as he pulled his hand away from mine and was making frantic motions.

 

Dad stepped into the conversation," Newt, She's right. The career pack could be a good option for you guys. If you team up with them, you guys can get some supplies, and have a better chance at surviving the first few days. " He said as he looked at the both of us.

 

Mom piped up from her spot across the room, " Peeta, you can't be serious. They'll be in more danger if they team up with the careers. They'll be plotting ways to end them once Newt and Willow are no longer useful for them." She said with an edge to her voice.

 

Before anything bad could erupt , Aphrodite stood up and looked at the both of them, then to us. " Why don't we have Willow and Newt go get some rest, and we'll talk about this with out them here." She said as she walked towards us and grabbed me by my arm. Newt's stylist did the same with him. I looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

 

As she guided me back to my room, she leaned in and whispered. " Take your father's advice, and team up with the careers. Especially the boy who seems to have a thing for you." She told me as we stopped at my door. Her delicate fingers brushed back a stray hair from my face. " I know you'll make the right choice." She said, before leaning in and pressing her lips against my forehead.

 

Then, I was left alone. What would I do? I sat on my bed and tucked my legs underneath me. What should I do? I mean, I have my thing with Newt where we're in love, or well supposed to be atleast. But, then there was Julius. He would be a great ally. A strong, and brave guy with the knowledge to kill. And that smile, and laugh, oh god.

 

My hand flew to my cheek, feeling it heat up. Hell, did I like him? No. No. I don't even know him. I got up and started to pace. It wasn't even possible. I don't know anything about this guy, and yet. I did like the way he looked at me, and made me smile. " Willow breathe." I told myself as I stopped in front of the little microphone. I knew the way I could possibly solve this problem.

 

I ordered the almost exact same kind of sweet buns that my dad would make, and I pulled out the sheaf of letters I was given by Al. It had been a silent agreement between all of our friends that we would write a letter every year addressed to each one of our friends just incase one of us would get reaped. I looked through the letters, and smiled at the memories that the letters brought up.

 

As I munched on my sweet buns, I got to my last letter. It was from Newt. I knew it right away from the shaky handwriting. I sucked in some air, and read it.

 

"Dear Willow,

I know that this year might be the year that you get reaped. I just don't know, I have that feeling. So I'm going to tell you this now, and if you don't get reaped then I won't have to confess this right away. Ever since we were younger, I've had feelings for you. Not just normal feelings, deep and hard feelings. I think it started when I first met you, and you just smiled at me. My heart lifted and that dreary rainy day became one of the happiest days of my life. Your one of the sweetest, kindest girls I've ever had the honor of knowing. I guess that's why I never really went after the other girls who asked me out. You were the only one that held my heart in such a tight grasp. So this year, by some unlucky chance that you get reaped, I wanted you to know that I love you. I love you Willow Mellark, and I'll always support your decisions. I just hope, that one day, if we would ever date, I would want to marry you, and start a family with you. Though it's just a childish dream, it's still mine.

With All Love and Affection,

Newt."


	9. Chapter 9

WHAT?!

I couldn't believe it. This really couldn't be happening. But as I thought of it, it all made sense. It really did. I rested my head in my hands and tried to process everything.

So Newt loved me. What could be bad about this? " Well the fact that you would possibly have to kill him." The small little voice in my head chimed in. Damnit, that was true. I ran my hand through my hair as I tried to calm myself down. This was not such a big deal. I love him too....right? It wasn't hard to love someone like him. He was kind, and had a large heart to love alot of people with. Maybe if it was ever possible, I would actually like to date him.

Heh, then I would be proving everyone back home right.

I climbed into bed, and tried to will myself to go to sleep. After about maybe two hours, I realized that sleep would not come to me. I snuck out of my room, and padded down the hall. There was a small stairway there, and there I could hear soft humming coming from up there.

I made my way up there, and found something surprising. It was a rooftop garden, and the source of the humming was of course Newt.

 

He didn't seem to notice my presence there, so I came up on the side of him and grabbed his hand. Newt jumped at the touch, then relaxed when he saw it was me. " Hey, what are you doing up?" I asked him with a slight grin. " I couldn't sleep, so I came up here. Your dad showed it to me on our first day here." He said as he looked out over the glowing city.

 

" It's quite nice up here, somewhere where we can be alone. " I told him as I leaned my head against his shoulder. Almost right away, his arm pulled me closer to him. There I felt safe. I felt like nothing could hurt me. We stayed like that for a while. It was nice to be in the quiet.

 

Then Newt spoke up. " Uh Willow, could I do something?" He asked me nervously. Of course I had a bit of an idea of what he may do, so I nodded. He placed a hand under my chin and tilted my head up. Newt leaned down and pressed his lips against mine.

 

He was kissing me.

 

He was really kissing me.


	10. Chapter 10

This had to be the most magical moment of my life. His hand slipped down and rested on the small of my back. I felt as if He would sweep me off my feet at that point. I pulled away to finally give my lungs some much needed air. Newt was giving me the widest smile I had even seen. I looked at him, and smiled as well.

" So, I guess you feel the same way?" He asked as he leaned in and rested his forehead against my own. " Yeah, I love you too." I told him as I reached my arms up and hugged him tightly. He laughed and pressed a kiss to my head. " Good, Now, hopefully, we can make it through this,together He stated before pulling away.

"Oh Newt, I so wished that was true." I thought as I looked up into his wide blue eyes. He laughed slightly, before letting me go. " Come on, We both need some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow." I sighed, and gave a grumpy pout. Newt seemed to take notice of this. He fell for the grumpy look and took my hand. " Come on, you can sleep in my room tonight." He told him as he guided me to the door.

That night, I spent with Newt. We didn't do anything nasty, we just kinda cuddled.In the morning, I was woken up by Newt. He was sitting on the side of the bed,He smiled at me and leaned in, kissing my head," Come on, You have a big big day." He said in the same voice that Denio always had. I laughed, and sat up running a hand through my hair.

Newt, obviously had been up for a while, since his skin was slightly damp and his dark blonde hair stuck up in all different directions. I give him a quick kiss on his cheek, before heading back to my own room. I only managed to get a quick shower, before my style team basically invaded my room. Venus helped pick out a comfortable outfit, and also helped me get dressed quickly so we wouldn't keep Aphrodite waiting.

I walked with Venus and Ocativan to our style room.As We walked, they asked questions about Newt and Myself. I tried to answer them as fast as they came. " Well of course I've known him for like forever. No, we haven't gone a real date. What?! No, No we're just kids, besides Newt would want to wait for that." I said as a blush came over my cheeks.

Aphrodite rescued me from their endless questions, and I was so grateful. She settled me down into a seat, and started her work. Tonight was the interviews, and my prep work may take all day. I let the time pass by talking with Aphrodite, and telling her all what happened last night. She smiled and laughed slightly. I think she liked our young romance story.

 

Finally, almost close to the time to the interviews, Aphrodite pulled out a green dress. It looked amazing. The green fabric shimmered and seemed to be shifting into different shades of green. She showed me the full of the dress. It looked like a tree. Huh? A tree? I looked at her. " Why a tree?" I asked her curiously as I stood up. " Well, it's sort of after your name." She smiled, and I knew better just from that smile. Though I have to admit, it did look alot like a willow tree.

 

" And?" I asked as She helped me slip into the dress. " It's gonna make a good splash with everyone there." She said as she fixed my now curled hair and made the slight adjustments to what jewelry I wore. I was escorted to the waiting area for the interviews. Then, I noticed that the tresses that made up the " branches" of my dress looked almost if they were on fire. I took a moment to examine the edges and found that there were gems lining the ends of it, making it look like there were flames licking the edges of my dress.

 

I sat in the District Twelve area, well it wasn't really marked as that, it was just sort of known like that. One by one, tributes started to file in. Since the seating area was in an arch shape, District One was across from me. Julius sat down and smiled at me. Oh lord, he looked good. He grinned at me and then gave me a quick wink.

 

Next to me was a small grumble, and Newt grabbed my hand. I sighed slightly and leaned against him. My head rested against his shoulder, and his head was ontop of mine. Guess the protective side of Newt was coming out. We were quiet for a while, before I noticed that Newt was wearing a ring that matched my own.

 

I looked up at him, " Newt, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked as I looked at the ring on my left hand and the ring on his left hand. " Maybe, we should just not mention it." He said as he noticed the little codiendence. Did My parents plan this? We were too young to get married. Maybe we could use that to our advantage.

 

It would be silly to think of, but Would they believe them? People die young in District Twelve, so it could make sense. " Should we?" I asked him quietly. " Let's try, don't mention it, if he brings it up say it okay? " He told me as I nodded and smiled slightly. He was just about to say something to me when I heard my name being called. What, it couldn't be time for me to go on already. I let go of Newt's hand and stood up proudly.

 

A producer grabbed me by my arm and guided me pass my new friends from District Eleven, and Julius from District One. It didn't seem to matter now. This time will be about me. I walked out onto stage to the loudest cheering I've ever heard in my life.


	11. Chapter 11

My smile was wide as I looked at everyone out there. I could do this. I know I can do it.

 

I saw myself on one of those large screens across the crowds. Of course, Aphrodite was right, I would make a splash. I look like I was on fire.....Just like my mom. Caesar smiled, and greeted me as if I were an old friend. This year, he had chosen a light green to wear. I sat and he smiled at me.

 

I settled into the seat and smiled, and he started his questions. " So Willow your reaping must have been an ordeal for you." He started as he leaned forward, and put his hand ontop of mine. " Could you tell me what was going through your mind at that point when your brother's name was called?"

 

The memory of that morning came flooding back to me. I just remember standing there in fear, and dread. I looked at Caesar and smiled slightly, " Oh, all I could remember was feeling scared. I would have show him the ropes, but I was thankful that someone stepped in, but when I saw it was my Newt." I paused and wiped my eyes like I had tears in my eyes. " My heart broke. "

 

There was a sigh from the crowd and I knew I was playing them right. It was then when Caesar noticed the ring on my hand. " Oh Willow, Is there something between you and Newt?" He asked as he took my hand in his own. Time to work my magic.

 

" Well, I have to tell you that relationships do work differently back home. You see, People find their love young, and sometimes, not to lose them, you do promise your love to them young." I knew people were on the edge of their seats now. " So on my birthday, Newt gave me my ring and that day was the most magical of my life." God, I knew I was lying, and it felt so cheesy. The crowd reacted the way I wanted to and sighed, before murmuring to each other.

 

" So Willow, what did you think of your costume at the tribute parade?" He asked as I took noticed of the time. About two minutes. " Oh of course it was beautiful and amazing, and I was only the smallest bit frightened, but I trusted my stylist enough to know that I wouldn't get hurt. I mean even look at this certainly fantastic dress!" I stood up and moved so the tresses moved as well,making them look as if they were on fire.

 

" Oh my, It looks gorgeous, Just like your mother's so long ago." He said as the cameras found mom sitting next to my dad, and her face flushed pink. I sat down and gave a wink towards my style team for the good work. When I sat, He looked at me. " So, A Ten, could you divulge how you got such a good score?" I laughed softly, and covered my mouth. " Oh Caesar, you know I can't let any of those secrets go." I told him as I leaned forward slightly, as if to give him a secret. " but I will tell you that I'm quite good at running." I said as I leaned back. Soon the buzzer rang out after a bit of our banter back and forth. " Well Best of luck to you. " We both stood up and he grabbed my hand lifting it up to the cheering crowd. " Willow Mellark, tribute from District Twelve!"

 

I made it backstage with out freaking out too much. I was met with a wall of a human. It was Julius. " Oh hey, you did great. I wanted to ask you if thought about the alliance?" He asked as he looked down at me, holding my arms. I was just about to answer him when there was a clearing of a throat and it was Newt. " Oh sorry I didn't mean to interrupt your moment with...my fiance." Newt said as he glared daggers at Julius. Before Julius could answer, we were all pulled in different directions. Newt was pulled onto stage, Julius was pulled off by his tribute partner, and I was pulled off by my parents.


	12. Chapter 12

I was pulled back into a side room, and just as the door closed, Mom started to freak out. " What was all of that?! You two aren't engaged and certainly there would be no chance of that happening." She whispered yelled as she moved her hands around frantically. Dad placed a steady hand on her shoulder and forced her to look at him

 

" Katniss, listen. I planned this out. You and I both I know that they wont stand a chance with just love. We needed something more." Mom's eyes widen with something that was clearly anger." But Seriously? You know how much danger that puts them in? " She said as she pushed him away. " They wont be able to keep it up. One of them will have to die, you know how hard that's gonna keep up for either one of them." She told him as she glared at him, her arms over her chest.

 

Dad took a breath and looked at her," I'm doing this for the both of them. If this sort of turns out like it did for us, then they both then can live." He said as he shook her gently, " Please try to understand that I'm doing this to help them." He told her as mom sighed and looked down, like she was just trying to gather the words.

 

They were silent for a for a few moments, before mom looked at me. " Fine, Willow, you'll listen to everything I have to tell you, because you'll never to navigate this very carefully." She told me, before grabbing my arm, and leading me out of the room. Newt's interview must have ended,because he was walking towards us with that handsome smile of his.

 

Dad quickly grabbed him, and pulled him off in the other direction. Mom walked with me to the elevator, and just stayed there in the silence with me. When we were finally alone, she turned to me. " Willow, Sweetie." This must have been serious, she never really used pet names with me. " You can't get attached, because if you do, and it doesn't work out the way your father wants it, it'll be too hard for you to handle, and I don't want you to go through that pain." She told me as we stopped at our floor.

 

We stepped out, and she looked at me, placing a hand on my shoulder. " Just please don't get attached." She said, before leaving me alone with my now panicked thoughts.


	13. Chapter 13

Don't get attached.

 

The words echoed through out my mind. She was right. I shouldn't get attached to him, and It was gonna be hard. Standing there, I thought of all the different scenarios that could possibly happen. After getting through some of them, I started to trembled, and felt tears well up in my eyes.

 

Someone grabbed me before I fell to the ground. " Willow, Willow are you alright?" The voice asked me as I tried to steady myself. " Don't break down, Don't." I thought to myself as I looked at the person in front of me. It was Newt. He leaned in and placed a hand on my cheek, and he had a concerned look on his face. " Are you alright?" He asked as I started tug my arm from his grasp.

 

When I had managed to break my arm from him, I dashed off past servants and a few other people. I settled down onto my bed and let out a few shaky breaths . Could I do it? Could I detach myself from the only boy who ever held my heart tightly? I got up, and tidied myself up. Taking off my dress, shoes and make up and letting down my hair.

 

After getting into a set of comfortable clothing, I sat down on my bed. Tomorrow, it would be my last free morning. I took a breath and wiped my eyes again, before I heard a knock at my door. Getting up, I went to the door and opened it to find my dad.

 

It was nice to have him here with me. I almost flung myself into his arms. He tightly hugged me,and smiled. " Hi there sweetie."

 

He guided me back to my bed, and rubbed my back gently. Dad was always the one for softer, and gentler things, just like my grandfather. We stayed in silence for a bit, the comforting presence of my father calmed me greatly. " Willow I wanted to tell you something." He started as I looked up at him. " No matter what happens in there, or what happens to you, Your mother and I will always be proud of you. " 

 

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss against my forehead. " I love you daddy." I said as my arms went around him. It had been the longest time I called him daddy. I think the last time, I was seven and I had a nightmare. I had padded down the hall to my parents room, shaking him awake and then curling up safely in his arms.

 

Against my hair, I heard muffled, " Love you too Princess." He pulled away and smiled widely. " Get some rest, you need it." Dad told me as he got up, and waited by my bed. I crawled under the blankets, and laughed slightly when he tucked me in for what could be the last time.

 

I let it happen, and curled up underneath the blankets like I would back home. My eyes were drifting close, and the warmth that surrounded me, over came me. I was just about to go to sleep when my door opened again, and there was a figure in my door way.


	14. Chapter 14

It was only Newt. It might be the last time I see him like this. Of course, in the morning I would be taken away to be dressed in the catacombs. Newt, silently made his way into my bedroom. It was sort of funny. Though my parents couldn't see me, I could see Newt. 

 

His hair was stuck up in different directions, and he looked like he had tried to sleep, and it didn't work. He slipped under the covers, and pulled me close to him. His warmth was nice, and very welcomed. My head was on his chest, and his chin rested on my head. As I slowly slipped into the warm seduction of sleep, I heard the murmurings of I love you from above me.

 

When I woke up, Newt was gone, and I was alone. Aphrodite was by my bedside and she helped me into a light shift that would suffice until I can get my real clothes in the catacombs. We walked along to the roof, her hand in mine as a sort of support for my sleeping body. Soon a helicarrier descended and Aphrodite helped me onto the helicarrier, and I sat in a surprisingly comfortably seat. A lady came up, and injected the tracker into my arm.

 

The carrier touched down, and Aphrodite and I made our way down to my take off area. This would be the only time this area would be used. I sat down in a chair in the center of the room while Aphrodite went around the room and gathered my needed clothing. A pair of dark brown pants that got tucked into soft leather boots that reached my knees. I slipped on the long sleeved shirt and the black jacket that went with it.

 

Aphrodite looked at me, " There's no chance for us to personalize the outfits for you guys, but I think that you can make it work." She said as she winked and smiled. My hair was brushed and braided back, before I was given sunscreen, chapstick, and a bit of eyeshadow to wear.

 

This was the last few moments I would have before the bloodbath. I sat with Aphrodite and ate a small breakfast so I would have a bit of food in my stomach.

 

Once it was time for me to go up, I got onto the metal plate. Aphrodite stood in front of me and slipped on my necklace I got from Al, but it had my ring from last night. She smiled and held my hand. " Go start a fire out there spark." Aphrodite told me, before I heard the metal plate beneath me whirr to life.

 

I took a breath and closed my eyes as it lifted me up, and to my possible death.


	15. Chapter 15

I clicked into place, and my eyes shot open. This was it, it was my end. I caught sound of the count down. Fifty. Swinging my head left to right, I caught sight of what the arena was like this year.

 

The arena was split into three. It was a lush green forest in front of me. A deserted city to my left and a barren field on my right. I bent down, getting into a running position. To my side was Newt, but he was too far away for me to touch him. Across from me, on the other side of the grassy flat, was Julius who grinned at me.

 

The count down was- The gong sounded and I dashed off to the pack next to a bow and a quiver of arrows. Though, I wasn't like my mom with the weapon, I could still use them. I was pushed against by the girl from District Ten, and she went for my pack. Oh, Hell no. I shoved her away, and pulled the pack,bow and quiver close. I was not going to make the same as past tributes. Behind me there was screaming, and blood spattered across my back.

 

The forest was my best option. I'm familiar the most with the forest, since Mom would take me to the one near her old home. I guess a few other tributes had the same idea to use the forest as well because I heard foot falls all around me. Time to use some of Mom's old tricks. I gave myself only a moment to place everything on my back, before clampering up a near by tree.

 

Foot by foot, hand by hand, I made my up to the highest fork I could find. When I stopped, I was near the top of an oak tree. I went under the cover of the branches, and pulled off my dark pack and started to go through it. In the pack was a half gallon of water, some dried fruit and beef, iodine, first aid kit, a few lengths of twine, and a sleeping bag. Good I can work with this.

 

I heard the sounds of death, and I tried to block it out. Staying up in my tree, I watched a few tributes pass my tree, but I let myself be quiet. Soon enough, it was becoming night, and I pulled out my sleeping bag. Wrapping it around myself, I looked up into the sky as the anthem played. 

 

The dead tributes head shoots appeared in the sky. Those two from District Eight, Girl from Seven, Two from Six, Boy from Nine and Finally the girl from Five.

 

No Newt, that's good.

 

Just as I was about to close my eyes, I heard yelling, and it was my name.


	16. Chapter 16

My name.

It was my name.

My eyes shot open as I swung my head quickly from side to side, scanning my surroundings. That's when I spot it. It was a fire coming towards me, and a guy shouting my name.

I could faintly make out their outline, but the voice became more clear to me. It was Julius! Oh No. Was he here to kill me? No, No, He seemed to have that thing for me. " Willow!" He yelled as he stopped at the base of my tree. " Come on. I just want to talk to you!" He added as I peeked my head through the branches. 

" I don't have any weapons, I promise, like I said, I just want to talk." He insisted. I sighed, and closed my eyes momentarily. With my pack and weapons in hand, I climbed down and stood in front of him. " Oh I'm glad you got through." He said as He smiled widely at him, his pearly white teeth shone through. 

I nodded and then smiled slightly. " Thanks, It was pretty easy.." I said as I rubbed my arm lightly. " Come on, Your gonna come with us." Wait, us? " Who else do you have with you?" I asked as I looked up at him. " Oh, I have District Two's tribute, Her name is Victoria." He told me as a girl stepped into flame light.

 

She was flawless, quite flawless in every way. Her brown hair was tied back into a bun, and her skin was quite clear. " Come on Julius, They'll be expecting us back soon, is your new girlfriend coming with? " She asked as she glared at me. " Yeah, Willow come on." Julius said as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.

 

I didn't want to fight against him for fear that he might kill me if I don't comply. We go through the forest, and towards the cornucopia.

 

Once at the cornucopia, I froze. I was met face to face with the career pack.


	17. Chapter 17

Being face to face with the career pack scared me to no end. They all looked as if they could kill me with their pinky. The blonde that sat near the edge of the cornucopia glared at me, before Victoria spoke up. " Nike, Calm your hormones, She's gonna be of service to us. Didn't you see how she was in the training center? She can be of service to us." She said as she smiled slightly,but she leaned down, and whispered in the blonde girl's ear.

 

That seemed to calm down the blonde, but then the brunette in bits of fish netting spoke up. " How do we know that she'll stay loyal to us?" She asked as she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. Julius stepped forward, wanting to stand up for me. " Hey, I know she will, and if she doesn't I'll take the fall for it." He said as My head turned side to side to watch the interaction. It seems like they had grown a close alliance even before the games.

 

" Guys, let's just get some food in us, and then get some rest." Said the almost rail thin boy from District Three. The female next to him nodded, " Come on, Jay's right. Let's just get some food okay?" She said as she got up, going over to the large fire that they had going. There was some kind of hunk of meat roasting over the fire. They ignored me for the most part, all of them going for the meat. I was given a small portion of meat, but, it had a bone sticking out of it. I feel like it was just a way to poke fun at me.

 

We all sat next the fire for some warmth, before, of course, I was voted to take the first watch, and I clambered up the Cornucopia to get a better watch. The watch would go Myself, then Julius , Kale, Ann,Jay, Victoria, Nike, Sky, then finally Finn. I sat up there, my legs crossed underneath each other with my bow and arrows, and my pack on my back.

 

I was almost all the way through my shift, my eyes closing occasionally, before I finally rested my head against my palm. A pair of hands shook me awake, before they picked me up and I curled against the chest of that person. I was laid down on the ground, and I fell into a deep sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

When I had awoke the next day, I was curled up in a sleeping bag inside of the cornucopia. It was sort of funny. I only remembered being on top of the cornucopia, not curled up near a person.

 

Sunlight streamed through the woven spaces of the cornucopia, and hit me in the face. I groaned and rolled onto my side, before I heard my name. Almost struggling, I sat up and rubbed my back. " Willow come on!" The voice yelled as I wiped at my eyes, clearing away a bit of gunk. As my head whipped side to side, I found the source of the voice. It was the boy from District Four. His name was Finn, wasn't it?

 

I got up and wiped my face again, before pulling back my hair, and heading out to wear I was called to. My feet dug into the slightly damp ground as I looked around," What do you want?" I asked as I yawned. " Your hunting." He said as he placed the bow and arrows forcefully into my hands. " Julius is going with you." He said as I nodded slightly and turned to see Julius getting a pack ready.

 

As we headed off, the girls started to yip and bark at me, like I was some sort of dog. " Go on pup." District One called out as I had paused to retie my shoe. I growled slightly, before retreating into the haven that was the forest with Julius beside me.

 

After a while of hunting, we had bagged a few squirrels, two rabbits, and one groosling. Julius was off gathering some plants that I described to him. My boots crunched against the leaves when I stopped at a bush. The berries on this bush were round, and a dark purple. Leaning down, I took a vine into my hand, and looked over the berries.

 

These...These were nightlock berries. Nightlock berries were extremely deadly, and you would die as soon as they pass your lips. I stripped a vine of it's berries, when Julius came down the path. " So Willow, I checked the trap you set up and we caught a pretty fat groosling. Hey what are those?" He asked he looked into my hand.

 

A sudden bit of panic flashed over me, before I grinned and turned to him, " Berries, Sugar Berries, They'll go great with Breakfast." I said as I turned to him. I knew that the cameras would be filming this, and I know this may bring me in sponsors when it counted. " Oh Really, Can I tr-" " No." I cut him off with a bit of a shout. I didn't mean to sound harsh, I just didn't want him to die. " No, let's save them for the others." I said quickly with a smile.

 

He nodded slowly and took a step back from me, before turning, " Come on, let's get back to camp."

 

" Yeah, Let's get back to camp."


	19. Chapter 19

We made it back to camp pretty quickly, and I settled down my catches for the day. Everyone walked around me, basically ignoring me unless I spoke loudly to them. As I plucked the groosling clean, I watched Julius and Nike talk, and Nike get extremely close to him, and When I looked back up from getting out the nightlock berries, she had kissed him. 

 

My hands clenched into fists tightly. Was a jealous? I shouldn't be, I didn't even know him! I looked away and went to work starting up a fire and preparing the meal. I didn't exactly feel guilty for the fact that I was about ready to kill these kids. No, I felt a bit relieved that I wouldn't have to deal with these monsters, but I didn't want to kill Julius... I put some meat onto the spit, and began to roast it over the fire.

 

After a bit, I cautiously squeezed the Nightlock berries over the meat, careful to wash my fingers clean after dealing with the berries. Once the meat was done, I portioned it out to each of the other tributes, except Julius. I looked at him, and gave him the sweetest smile I could push, "Julius, could you pretty please go check the traps we set just to see if we caught anymore?" I asked, and he nodded quickly, heading out into the forest.

 

Once he was gone, I got up and handed each other the tributes a portion of meat. " Aren't you going to eat?" Victoria asked, and I shook my head, " No, I'm good, I had a bit of fruit when I was hunting." I said as I turned back to my cleaner, not poisoned meat.

 

They started to eat, and one by one, and their eyes went wide , before they fell back onto the ground.Before anything, I got up and found the largest back pack I could find. Taking everyone elses packs, I slid the items I needed and wanted into it,including two of the set aside jackets, and Nike's District braclet. It was fairly nice. I got everything, and then settled it besides me with my bow and arrow.A smirk passed over my lips as I looked around, before I took a breath and sniffled. I tried to make it look like I was scared and upset, hopefully this looked convincing enough.

 

I stood up and screamed Julius's name in "anguish". He broke through the treeline and swung his head side to side. He ran towards me, and grabbed me by my arms. " Willow what happened?" He asked as he looked at the others, dead on the ground." I thi-I think the meat was tainted." I said in a soft voice, giving a little shake.

 

He nodded and took a breath, pulling me close, " It's gonna be alright." He said as He sighed. " Gather up what we'll need and we'll head out. " Julius stated, as he turned and shook his head slightly, going to get his own weapons. I gathered up the other stuff into another pack for him, and then grabbed my own stuff.

 

Once we were all prepared to leave, He took a look around. " So, Where do you want to go?" He asked me, and I pointed to the forest. " It's our best bet, we have the most coverage in there anyway." I said as I started to make my way to the forest, and Julius following behind me, giving no arguments.


	20. Chapter 20

We traveled through the day, catching a few small birds and picking a few roots as we walked. As we made our way from the cornucopia, we heard several cannons, signaling the deaths of the careers. In my head, I added that to the seven from yesterday, it was fourteen dead now, ten left to go.

 

Tracking up a hill, I noticed the sun was going down. I turned back to Julius, who was making his way up the hill. " Come on, we wont have all night. Even if we're lucky, we might only have enough time to set up camp." I said as I placed a hand on my hip and waited for him to finally reach me.

 

For a boy who was so in shape, and so fit, it seemed like he could barely climb a hill. This was a regular thing for me, since I would hunt with my mom on Sundays.After forking over my water skin, we started to set up a camp for the night. Now with my alright knowledge of hunting skills, I had chosen a place where the grass was green, and I could hear water running in the distance. 

 

We set up a small fire to cook food on, we set up two traps near our bags, but we didn't set up the sleeping bags yet. I turned to him and smiled slightly," I heard a river some where, and I'm gonna go see if I can find it." I said as I turned to the large brush. After a few minutes of pushing and cutting down branches and vines, I finally made it to a river.

 

The water rushed over the rocks in a quick pace that could maybe pull me away if I wasn't careful. I looked down at myself and I immediately made a face. From all the walking and tracking we did for most of the day, I was muddy and dirty, and just all kinds of gross. Quickly, I stripped off my clothes and waded into the river. I washed the grime and dirt from my body, and once I was clean, I grabbed my socks and pants, washing the dirt and muck from them.

 

I pulled on my now semi damp clothes and settled onto a nearby rock. After a bit of struggling, I managed to run my hand through my hair to free it of its tangles. As I braided back my hair, I heard footsteps. It couldn't be Julius, he would be back at camp watching over everything.

 

Tying back my hair, I looked around and my eyes and ears scanned the surrounding forest. In the now settling darkness, I managed to pick out the fom of three people. One girl and two guys. Great, I could be attacked now, and I only have a knife. My hand clenched around the handle of my knife and I saw the figures go to take another path.

 

The river must have not been far from the camp because the small light of the camp fire that reached me illuminated the figures. And I knew that Newt and Julius meeting would not be good.


	21. Chapter 21

Now, back in District Twelve, I had won my fair share of foot races around the schoolyard, dashing around like a panicked animal. In this moment, I swear I was moving fasting than that. When I made it back to camp I was quickly grabbing my bag and hurried towards a near by tree. I think from the look on my face, Julius got the hint and went for his own bag. 

 

We made our way up our respective trees, and tried to silent as possible. My feet lightly balanced on a branch as my fingers clenched at the bark. Newt, and the two tributes from District Eleven entered our former campsite. I looked up and across the way, I caught sight of Julius's eyes, glinting in the camp light. 

 

I heard the three of them talking. Could I get away in time, Really? My legs started to wobbled as I clenched the tree beside me. It was hurting just from trying to stay quiet and still at the same time. Almost like grasping at straws, I started to teeter and wobble in the trees.

 

I let go of the tree and fell over. Well I fell out and onto something or maybe someone. Slowly, I turned to find out that I was on the ground. Well no duh, it was the only place I could be. Under my hands I felt a thick fabric under me. Was I on some backpack? A male cleared his throat. I looked up to see Rau, Orchid, and Newt. ( he looked to be the only one happy to see me.)

" So where is he?"

Oh no.


	22. Chapter 22

Should I? They'll want the whole truth. I mean really, come on.  I couldn't tell them the truth.   They were looking down at me as if I were crazy.  I leaned away from then and gulped deeply.   "Okay, Willow you can do this." I thought as  I straightened up. " I don't know what you  mean, I was-" I paused as thunder cracked over head of them. " Come on, now is not the time for this. It's going to rain, and we need to take cover."  Orchid said as she pointed up to the sky.  

Rau rolled his eyes and stamped out the fire that was in the middle of the camp.   " Come on guys." He said as he offered me a hand. I took his hand and stood up, shouldering my backpack. We gathered up  and headed out before the rain started to fall down.  Newt grabbed my hand tightly as we headed towards out of the forest. The artificial moon light shone  on his face, and I just had to smile, he looked precious. 

We trampled our way through the forest and avoided the traps that other tributes set up. Soon enough we broke through the tree line and  we were on the destroyed city side.  Then, rain started to come down harder and harder, and We broke into a dash towards the nearest building.   We made our way inside the crumbling building and looked around the lower floor.  

The floor had a few dirty mattresses scattered around and Orchid covered her mouth, yawning." Come on, let's get some rest." Newt suggested as  the rain became heavier. We all nodded, and Rau and Orchid took  to two of the bed, leaving one left. Newt smiled at  me again and motioned to the bed. " You take it, you can use it more." He said, before I shook my head and pulled him with me towards the bed.

I pulled him down on the bed with me and wrapped my arms around him. He pulled me close to him and pressed a kiss to my head." Come on, get some sleep." He said, before rolling on to his side and closing his eyes. Soon, I followed suit and snuggled against his chest to get some sleep.

 


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

It was wet when I woke up next. Strange, but when I opened my eyes the skies were dark. It must have raining the night before. Beside me in the room, Orchid and Rau were talking. I turned over and opened one eye to look at them. They were leaning in and were whispering. What were they whispering about? Before I could do anything, Newt was pulling me closer to him in his sleep. I was flush against his chest, and he was mumbling in his sleep. 

" No, No Come on." He said, before resting his chin on my shoulder. Newt was probably scared like all of us. I mean who wouldn't be scared to be in the games. Careers, that's who wouldn't scared. Someone like....Julius. In my moment of false quiet, I thought of him. Of how much he risked bringing me to the careers. A sense of dread came over me as I lay in the warmth of the supposed husband's arms. I killed those kids, I really did and I didn't feel anything when I did it. They wouldn't be returning home to the families they left. 

I knew that my parents and almost everyone in District Twelve would be watching me. I should make them proud. Taking out most of the careers in one fell swoop, that was pretty amazing and a District Twelve did it. Newt seemed to be waking up behind me. He shifted and let go of my torso. " Willow are you up?" He asked as he sat up. Slowly, I nodded and gave a small yawn. " Yeah, I am." 

Rau and Orchid stopped talking and looked over at us. " Good, your awake!" Orchid said with a clap of her hands and a smile on her face. I wondered if she was maybe going crazy because who could smile in a death match. " Uh, bad news though." She started as she got up from her musty bed. " We don't have food for all of us, only two of us." Her smile faded, and I looked at her. " I'll go hunt....alone." I said as I heaved myself up and stretched out a bit. " Are you sure? I mean we can come with too!" She offered, but I simply shook my head.

" I can do it, I promise. " I told her, trying to pass off a smile that wouldn't make them aware of the fact that I was scared. Newt touched my shoulder and turned. We should be playing up the fact we are married. " Be safe." He said softly, and leaned down, kissing me on my lips. His touch was urgent, but his lips were very nice and warm, though a bit chapped. Newt pulled away and smiled at me, running his thumb against my cheek bone. " I love you...." He told me as He pulled away.

A bit dazed, I nodded and grinned, " Love you too." I told him. before pulling myself from him and grabbing my bow and quiver. As I headed to the door, I turned and gave them one last look. " Stay safe." They said, and I nodded. " I will." With that, I turned around and headed out of the building and towards the woods.


	24. Chapter Twenty Four

Here, I felt my happiest. I was alone, and I was at peace. Behind murky grey clouds, the sun was almost a quarter of the way through the sky. A grey mist hung around me as I made my way into the edge of the forest. The sounds of the forest was comforting reminder of the time I would spend with my mom. I took a quick look around, before finding a pine tree and climbing up.

Most weekends, Mom would take me into the nearby forest and we would hunt. She was the one who taught me to string a bow, shoot and do all sorts of survival things. I took more of an interest in my father's baking, though, to much of my mom's dismay. I always thought that she was scared to take Rye out to hunt, knowing how much he liked animals. I settled back onto the tree and began to listen. While knives, and a bow and arrow were good, Ears were your best tools to hunt. So that's what I set out to do.

As the sun grew higher in the sky, my hunger grew, though I had caught a few small birds and collected berries and all, but I had to wait to get back to eat. I was thinking about my father's bread. It was warm and buttery, and it reminded me a lot of home. Days when I would be sick and Dad would bring me a bit of warm bread and some soup to comfort me, before opening up the blinds to let light in. The rushed panic of survival hadn't allowed me miss my family. Rye would have to carry on like normal and he would be forced to watch me fight people to the death. 

I finally took down a large grouse when I heard people below me." Lee?" The voice started, it sounded like the young girl from district seven. " What Mai?" That must have been Lee I was hearing. As I clenched the arrow and bird, I tried to press myself against the trunk of the tree. "Remember how happy we used to be?" She asked as she shouldered up her small pack. He looked to be trying to hold back a bit of laughter. "Yeah, we were pretty lame." He said as he broke down a few of the branches. I even cracked a smile at the silliness of it. It must of been hard to keep a happy demeanor up in this sort of hell hole. 

Mai and Lee went about on their own thing, and I was just about try and climb down the other side of the tree, when the yelling started. It must have been Mai who was the one yelling for Lee. There was also a different sort of yelling. Yelling that became cheers of delight when footsteps got closer to me. Not wanting to risk an escape, I stayed hidden in the leaves. 

The scene was set out in front of me. It was Mai with Lee a few feet behind her , and two girls closing in on Mai. One held a spear and the other a curved blade with what looked to be specks of blood on it. The one with the curved blade was faster. She grasped Mai by her hair and took her to the ground. The other girl went after Lee and I closed my eyes to avoid looking at it. Mai's screams were loud and painful, but the spear girl was screaming too. 

It continued on for a few long minutes, before screaming stopped and the huffing from the two below became distant. Finally I crawled down from the tree an saw the bloody mess. With that, I let out a screech and closed my eyes again, hoping that it would all go away. Though I knew that I couldn't stay for long, I set down the birds. Mai's breathing was very labored, and the spear girl's chested collapsed to the point that she wasn't breathing at all. I leaned down and looked at her, Mai was searching around for her distract partner, but she found me.

She must have been a bit disappointed to find me, but I tried to offer her a smile. " At least your going out like this instead of being taken out in some bad way." I told her as I wiped a bit of blood from her face. She looked so young, and she was dying in front of me. " Ta....Take this." She said as she offered up her hand to me. On her mangled hand was a grime covered ring. I guess that District Seven sent her off with something nice. Gently, I took the ring from her. " L..Lee.. needs it." She told me, a small tear rolling down her cheek. I nodded, placing it into the pocket of my jacket. 

As her breathing slowed down, I stood up and quickly snapped off a few pine boroughs and placed them on her head like a crown. It was something to take away from the blood everywhere. A smile crossed her face and I smiled back. Finally, Her breathing stopped. Part of me wanted to be sad. I had heard the attack and I was here with her in her final breaths. Yet, another part of me was glad. It was strange thing to feel glad at someone's death. 

This was different than the career's deaths. Those were a good thing. In other games, they would have taken us all out in a few days time.Me killing off the careers helped us all in surviving a few extra days. I'm sure that my parents would be glad to know that I could do that. This was just.....all wrong. Mai didn't need to die like this. Those girls just wanted to go home to their on family too. 

I turned my head and looked at the other girl. My guess was that Lee had tried to pulled her away from attacking Mai, and He had alot of rage about it. Taking in a deep breath, I pressed the middle three fingers from my left hand to my lips and then raised it up in a salute to the dead in front of me. After that, I worked quickly to collect my food, though I didn't seem to have much of an appetite after this. With caution, I rifled through spear girl's pack, leaving Mai alone. I didn't find much, except some flint, rope and a full water container. 

Quickly, I left the area to allow them to collect the bodies, and headed back to base.


	25. Chapter Twenty Five

The sun was lower in the sky, and I was closer to the building with the most activity in it. There was a shadowy figure in the doorway, and I smiled at the figure when it broke from the doorway into a run towards me. It wasn't Newt like I was thinking. It was Orchid who was hugging me tightly. " Oh god, your back!" She said as she gave me a tight squeeze. " We heard two cannons, and we were so worried about you Willow!" She told him in a hurried voice," Just don't go out alone okay? Did you get some food." I nodded and smiled weakly," Yeah, Come on, let's go inside." 

We headed inside and the sight warmed my heart a bit. Rau and Newt were laughing and they had a fire started up. I cleared my throat, and waved to them as they looked up at me. " Willow! Your back!" Newt said as he stood up and went towards me. I gave him a shaky hug and nodded, " I know, I know.." I said softly, before looking up at him. " I love you Newt." For a small moment, I leaned up and kissed his lips softly.

He could tell that I was upset, and He gave me a tighter hug. " Love you too." He told me softly, before we pulled away from each other. Then, we settled down by the fire. I handed out the birds to others so we could pluck the birds clean. " So what happened?" Orchid started as she pulled off the white feathers. " What do you mean?" I questioned as I got to work on the grouse. " Willow, we heard two cannon shots out there, and we thought it was you who got killed." Newt stated as he continued to de-feather the bird. 

Should I tell them? I mean I was still trying to process the fact that I was still the only person there for a little girl's death. " I heard it... It was two girls." I paused and took in a shaky breath." It was bad, but I mean...There's only a few more left" They could have noticed that something was wrong, since they set aside their birds. Orchid moved in closer and wrapped an arm around me. " Willow...what happen?" She asked me quietly. I felt it breaking..the damn was breaking down.

I let a few tears slip out as I pulled my legs up to my chest. The noise I let out was a mix between a groan and strangled cry. " Oh.." She started as she pulled me into her chest, and rubbing my back. " It's okay honey." She told me as I began to cry harder. I don't know why I was crying so much. It was terrible to think of. I hadn't shed a single tear over the deaths of seven people, just I was a blubbering mess over a little girl. There was a warmth on the other side of me, and I could hear the murmuring of Newt.

They were working me through my tears and almost hysterics. I was lost in their murmurs,when there was a beeping outside. Beeping? Rau was the one to get up and he stuck his head out the window. A sliver package floated down and he grasped it tightly. All of our heads went up as he approached us. " It's for you." He said, and I was shocked. He sounded less scary than I thought. The sliver container was placed on my lap, and my eyebrow went up. 

Gently, I pried open the lid and peered inside. Wrapped up gently, looked to be a package of cookies shaped like trees, and a letter. The script was feathery and looked to be very elegant. I peeled open the letter and looked over it.

"Willow,

We do not know you in a way we would hope, but we want to thank you. What you did was a good thing. You didn't leave her in a bad state, and you did your best to honor her. We hope that you'll continue on with a spirit of happiness and delight that Mai was known for. These cookies were meant for her, as a memory of home, but we want to share them with you. We wanted to share them with you in hope that you may not miss your home so much in a time like this. Home is not just a word, but a place. It is a place where memories are made and lives are lived. We hope that you can create a home in the most distressed times, and we wish all the luck for you in the rest of your life Willow.

From, Mai's Parents."

They wanted to thank me? Thank me? I'm a heartless person, and all I did was stay with her when she died. I set down the letter and opened up the wrapping to find nice cookies. They were trees, pines to be exact. " You got cookies?" Newt asked with wide eyes and an even wider grin. I nodded and smiled at him, before handing him one. " Here, a gift from me." I told him as I handed out the cookies to each one of my friends. Newt and Orchid smiled brightly at the treat, and Rau just looked at me. 

" It's a gift...from District Seven. I watched one of their tributes die and I gave them a good death. District Seven sent these to me." I told them, before raising up the cookie. " To Mai!" I proclaimed happily. " To Mai!" They echoed before joining in with eating the cookie. It tasted a bit of home, like the ones I've tried to make with the help of mom. Mom wasn't the best at baking, but it was still fun spend time with her that wasn't during hunting times.

After that, we just plucked clean the birds, humming as we did. Newt stayed by my side, helping me clean off the grouse. The food was filling, and it should last us for a bit. Orchid helped rebraid my hair, before we all settled down for the night. Newt had moved our mattress closer to the fire and I smile as He was settling down himself. That was the first time I noticed that he had a mark across his back. I held back my tongue, as he settled his shirt back on. 

He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me back. " Will you be okay? " He asked me softly as the siblings were settling down in the other corner. I nodded and gave him a small grin, before snuggling against his chest." Good night love." I whispered to him, before he nodded " Good night too."


	26. Chapter Twenty Six

The next few days were a bit odd as rain and winds began to pick up. It wasn't a warm summer like wind or rain, it was bitter and cold. It was like the first winds that came before fall hit home. I shivered as I leaned back against the wall. The jackets that they gave us were supposed to regulate our body heat, but it seemed to just be a thin thing to cover us up. The fire was small this time and one of the white birds was heating up so we could eat it with out getting sick. 

Orchid gave a little cough into her elbow and pulled her jacket tighter around her, " I think that they're trying to push all together in different spots. You know, to get more drama by ourselves." She said as she shivered a bit more violently this time. Along with the biting winds and almost freezing rain, Orchid had gotten sick. It all started when Orchid went out to get food herself and she came back with the sniffles. Rau offered up a small square a fabric, which looked to be part of someone's shirt. Progressively it got worse. Just to get cold medicine at this point would be hard. Sponsors would be less likely to pay for a small cup let alone a whole bottle. 

I was half tempted to got out there. If i would be any sort of lucky, I would find some herbs that I could grind up to help at least the tiniest bit. I felt a small cough rise up in my chest, before trying to let it out in the least noticeable way possible. A part of me hoped it would be nothing too serious, but another part of me knew that it would most likely get worse progressively. Newt moved in closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, before rubbing it gently.

Being stuck in this place with him for past few days gave me a bit of time to think. We were supposed to be married, but how did a married couple act? My own parents weren't overly affectionate, that just wasn't their style. It was more soft touches, gentle kisses to the head, and grabs of the hands. Should we do that? That would get people disinterested in the games and in us. When he leaned his head against mine, I gave a tiny smile and turned my head to kiss his head. " I love you sweetie." I told him softly as a brushed my thumb against his cheek.

" Hey Willow! I have a question." Orchid piped up from her spot. " How long have you guys been together?" She asked as she tilted her head at us. Okay, this would be time to test more of my lying skills. " Four years." I told her as Newt's hand found mine and held it tightly. " Four years! Wow, what was it like when you first fell in love?" She smiled and leaned back, wanting to obviously hear our story. 

" Amazing. She was the most beautiful girl I've seen and other girls tried to take my attention away from her, but I love only her. She makes me feel like I can be myself and I don't have put up a filter to make her happy." Newt stated happily, before turning and giving me a soft smile. Did I really make him feel like that? I leaned into him and smiled, laughing, " you big dork.." I started, before I settled myself on him, before looking at my friend. " He always makes me laugh and he cheers me up when I'm sad. He just...He makes me feel like I'm more at home with him than with other guys. I can tell him anything and I know it stays safe with him." Newt's hand brushed back some of my bangs and grinned down at me. " Your too perfect, you know that?" He said, before breaking out into the first smile that reached his eyes in a long time. 

We were lost in our own little moment, and then Orchid broke the moment, seemingly entranced by our story. " What was the wedding like?" She asked with a bit of bounce in her question. I hadn't been to many District Twelve weddings, but I knew of the customs. " It was nothing really special..weddings aren't really a bit thing in our district. " I started as I sat up a bit, Newt's arms around me though. 

" My family rented a dress that must have been worn by a dozen other girls and Newt wore something that wasn't too dirty. We signed a few papers and then we were assigned a house. " I said as I adjusted myself in his arms. " We had a small meal and a bit of bread. People sung the traditional song as we crossed over the threshold and we made a fire in the fireplace. It's supposed to be a thing of good luck when a newly married couple lights the fire together. Willow's dad made a bit of bread for us to toast. Wasn't it the bread with the nuts and berries in it? He always makes it for weddings and other special events, it is amazing thing to taste." He sighed happily and then gave a little pout. " That's the one thing I wish we had with us now, a warm loaf of your dad's bread." I nodded before wrapping my own arms around my stomach, which was rumbling in agreement. I could practically taste the flavor of the nuts and berries in the warm dough. 

" Well...Here's some meat for you." She told us as she removed the bird and began to portion out the pieces. Well, I would just have to deal with the food I had until I got home to district twelve. The ring tumbled out of my pocket as I started to eat the meat. Newt leaned over and plucked up the still grimey ring. " Where did you get this?" He asked me curiously. I turned around and looked at him with wide eyes. Quickly, I snatched it from him and held it close. " It was from someone...She gave it to me to give to someone else." I stated as I wrapped my hand around the thing. 

" Willow....was it..." Orchid started as I shoved it into my pocket. " Was it from one of the dead tributes?" She finished softly. I sighed and shook my head slightly, before leaning back against the wall. Mai wanted me to give this to her partner. Should I go out there and find him? Should I just stay in here and keep it like I did Nike's bracelet? The questions raced through my head, before I felt Newt shaking me, trying to release me from my stupor. I looked and found Newt's eyes wide and concern. " Willow....Willow..." He said, before my head snapped up and I stood.

" Guys, I have to go and find someone." I stated firmly, grabbing only light weapons to take with me. " What?!" They said at the same time, getting to their feet. " Willow, you can't go alone! You'll be crazy to go out there." Orchid said, before Newt reached for me. " Willow, you'll get sick and you don't know what will happen out there when your alone." He said, before moving in closer to me. " Will you let one of us come with you?" He questioned me, his grip tightening on my arm. " I have to do it alone guys, it's something that I really do need to do alone, I promise I'll be fine. Guys, come find me at the Cornucopia in a day or so okay?" I leaned up and gave him a small kiss on the lips, before heading towards the steps.

I would make it take at most three days max, but no longer. Lee should be in the forest still, and It would be easy for me to find him. Darkness surrounded me as I left the warmth of the base. I was met with a full moon as I headed out towards the forest. The sounds of birds and all sorts of animals greeted me with glee as I dashed into their home. After dashing/running for a bit, I stopped and leaned against a tree. For the night, I could maybe make a small fire and try to sleep, or I could continue to go on. 

My stomach rumbled loudly and I turned around to look at my options. I shouldn't hunt this late, but I knew what I could do. I unsheathed my knife and started on a tree, taking off the rough outer bark and digging into the softer inner bark. The bark stated my hunger for a few minutes, but I wanted to find something that had a bit of protein to it. I looked around and tried to trail a few tracks from different sort of animals. If there was animals, there was water and other things. It seemed like an hour, but what could have been only about fifteen minutes when I got on a hot trail.

The tracks were wet and fresh, it was pushed into mud and they were deep, so many kinda of these animals must have passed over here. I followed it and I found a bubbling brook and little animals crowded around the water. I almost let out a small cheer, but I stopped myself as my arms were forced behind me and a cold blade came to rest on my throat delicately.

" Where is it? "


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven

" Where is it?"

I gulped lightly as my mind was racing.What could I do? Someone was going to kill me, just knew it. The curve of the blade lifted up and I felt the bump of the blade against my ear. Ear? Ear....it must be the scythe girl. Lee hadn't gotten to her or well he had, but she had survived. I looked up and I saw a bit of movement from the tent across the brook. Someone was there, and they could help me. " I only ask again, where is it?" She hissed fiercely into my ear. 

For once, this will be my own time to shine. " I have it, but it's in my pocket." I said as I began to lower to my knee. The girl slowly removed the blade from my neck, and I reached up to her. Quickly, I grabbed her arms tightly and used my body weight against her to flip her over onto her back. The girl let out a groan and I quickly got to my own feet. For all the love in the world, I hoped the cameras were on us. 

She was quick on her recovery, but I was quick on the draw of my knife. I wish I would have taken my bow with me. I wish I could have been up in a tree and shooting down her. This was no time for wishing, it was time for action. She charged at me, and I stood slightly as if I was going to attack her head on. I planted my feet firmly, before squatting down and angling my shoulder as she charged at me. As she came into contact with me, I forced my shoulder into her stomach and went up with the contact. It flipped her onto her head with a hard thud. 

The girl was groaning when I heard rustling behind me. I spun around and looked into the darkness. The leaves rustled, and I saw something; a pair of grey eyes. He looked much different than I expected. The groaning continued from behind me, but I slowly approached him. He pushed away the branches away from his face and pushed me away from him, into the bushes. Lee went after her and I tried to pick myself up from the ground. Mud was smeared across my face and I almost heaved up my little dinner. 

As I tried to wipe off the mud from my face, before I heard a sicking crack of bones. I lost it and heaved up my dinner in the bushes. After upchucking the meal, I wiped my mouth the the back of my hand and turned back to look where Lee and the scythe girl were before. Lee was standing where her head was and there was blood splattered on his pants. He bent down and went through her bag and pulled out different things for him to use. 

Like a shade, he made his way over to me and bent down to my level. He brushed a thumb against my cheek, and wiped away the mud. His touch was gentle and not at all rough or anything like that. " You have good instincts kid." He told me with a bit of a grin on his face. Lee offered me his hand and pulled me up to my feet. " You also got some guts. I've been hunting her for the past few days, and she's gotten away from me every time." He said as he helped stabilize me so I wouldn't fall. As we hobbled over towards the small encampment, the cannon went off to signal the death of scythe girl. " You look like you need to rest." I nodded in agreement and he let me lean against him as we crossed over the small brook.

He quietly settled me down on the hidden side of his tent before digging around in his tent. Lee came back out with a little baggie will some beef jerky in it. He tossed it over to me and was going back over to the brook. He gathered up some water for me and was purifying it for me to drink. He settled down beside me and settled the water by my feet. The birds were chirping and singing to fill up the emptiness around us. I tore off piece after piece of the thick cut, flavorful jerky. He placed a hand on my shoulder and motioned for me to slow me down with my eating. I nodded and tossed back some of the water, before I set aside both things. 

" So why did you come to find me?" He asked as He pulled his legs up by his own chest. I didn't answer him right away, instead, I decided to look him over. His black hair was messy and flat against his head. It looked to be freshly washed, as did his face and arms. I could see that he had a few scars that looked to be from an axe or something like that. If I really had to place his age, It would be seventeen. 

" Mai." I started as I looked up into the sky. " She gave me something to give to you." I told him as I stretched out my legs. It was a bit of a calming thing for me to be settled in the forest. For almost a moment, I could only think of being back home with mom. Sometimes we would go out into the forest earlier in the morning. She had packed a bit of food and some warm tea for us to drink in the cold morning. We could get enough food for us to store and give to others we knew, like my godfather.

" What did she give you?" He asked me as he leaned in and He was biting his lip firmly. I took a breath and reached into my pocket, pulling out the ring. Before I handed it over, I rubbed my thumb against the grime and gave it a bit of a shine. I really couldn't hand it over to him like that. " She gave me this, She gave me it when she was dying." I told him as I handed over the ring to him. Lee took it and held it up to the moonlight, looking it over to see if I was telling the truth.

He looked at me, " She gave it to you?" He asked, and I nodded. I let out a long sigh, before I ran a hand through my hair. " She did, I was there when she died." I told him as I tucked my legs underneath me. " I stayed with her and I put pine leaves in her hair to give her a better death than what she would have had. I thought it would be nice to give her a death that wasn't so gruesome and ugly because of someone like her." I told him as I gave a nod towards the direction of the death scene. " Thank you." He murmured as he slipped the ring onto his pinky finger. " I feel like she would be very grateful for what you did for her." He told me as he ran a hand through his damp hair. 

" Her parents sent me a letter and some cookies. " I offered as I looked at him. He laughed and shook his head slightly. " Mai's parents were very kind to anyone they met. They would invite anyone into their home and give them something sweet to calm people nerves and worked them through their problems. " Lee said wistfully, and I smiled a bit at him. " They were happy for what I did for her and wished me the best of like. I wish I could met them myself." I told him, before he nodded and we both yawned a bit loudly. 

Lee ducked into his tent and motioned for me to come inside of it. I wondered how he got a tent, but I just chocked it up to the fact that he found it on someone else. Slowly, I followed inside and felt my eyes get heavy. He offered me a blanket and just told me to use my pack as my pillow. " We'll set out in morning, and I'll make sure you get back to the edge of the forest okay? " He told me, before I settled down and covered myself up with the blanket. As I was slowly going to sleep, I heard him tell me, " Thank you."


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight

The morning came with a promise of newness. For the first time in the games, I slept peacefully. I woke to the sound of the water and a light wind blow through the trees. When I woke up, Lee must have left before I woke up. Cracking my neck and back, I smiled at the thought that I could go to sleep my friends now. 

As I gathered up my things and exited the tent, the sun light filtered through the trees and showed me that Lee was gathering berries from a near by tree. I was about to speak, but a cannon when off. A cannon? Who could it be? Lee turned around and looked at me with wide eyes. Quickly, he rushed over and grabbed me by my arms so I wouldn't fall to my knees. " Willow...Willow listen to me." He started on me as his grip tightened on my arms. Quietly, I nodded and grabbed onto him tightly. Maybe it was to reassure myself that I had a person here beside me or the fact that I really wasn't going crazy.

My legs felt like jello, so Lee had to give me a bit of a push to get me going. I grabbed onto him,but He kept moving, so then I kept moving. It was as simple as that. One foot in front of the other and it kept you moving. That sounded like something I would hear my godfather say in his moments of sobriety. "You have to put one foot in front of the other and you have to keep moving. " I kept telling myself as Lee kept his arm around my arm and was leading me forward in the forest. Our speed was a bit slow, but I think that was because of my unsteady state.

I was about to turn to speak to him, but there was two screams that surrounded us. With that, I broke into a run, going to the sound of the closer screaming. I leaped over logs and holes, getting closer and closer to the sound of screaming. As I made my way through different things placed in the way. When the screaming got louder, I slowed down and finally caught my breath. Just beyond me was a clump of trees. Lee was coming up slowly behind me, and then came to a stop by my side. " Willow, go!" He said with a hard shove to my side.

Admittedly, I stumbled, but I continued on. After I passed the initial clump of trees, my nose was hit was a godawful smell. It was pungent and metallic, a bit like the jar of coins that Haymitch kept in his window. Any time Rye or I would curse, he would make us put a coin in the jar. I would have guessed that it was to show that he was at least a some what responsible guardian. My steps slowed as approached not screaming, but sobbing. I paused and took a gulp of air, looking around at the trees, before I felt what food I had in my stomach rise up and come out of my mouth.

Blood was spattered everywhere and guts were strung up in trees. After upchucking my food, I managed to look up and I got a splat of something coppery red on my face. The noise that came out of my throat was not my proudest moment. I screeched and jumped up, swatting at my face and knocking into Lee. " Oh my god.." He said slowly, before another voice chimed in. " Who..When did this happen?" It was Newt. He was slowly walking forward and he crouched down by Orchid, wrapping an arm around the sobbing girl.

I stopped myself and I made myself focus towards the needed point. My sight suddenly cleared and I stood up straight. I made my way over to the trees. The blood still dripped down, but I caught a whiff of the trees around us. One the biggest tree in the clump was a carved message. Slowly, I ran my fingers along the edges of the carved message. It looked to have taken hours or something like that. My hand stopped and I read it aloud. " You're next?" I paused and turned, looking at the group who were just a bit away from me. 

Orchid was crying...well sobbing really. Newt had his arm around her and was trying to comfort her to the best of his abilities. Lee was on the other side of her and murmuring something into her ear. She was calming down a bit, but she was still sniffling and tears still escaped. " We heard another cannon go off when we were coming here, so someone else must have gotten killed too." Lee started as we locked eyes. I nodded when Newt looked at the two of us. " Why did he come out here?" I started as I moved towards Orchid. Unsteadily, I lowered myself to the ground and reached out. I took her hands in my own and started to rub my thumbs in a circle on her hands.

I was never totally the best with words and all that, that was more my brother and father who were good with words. " He-He.." Her voice was weak and she started to hiccup as she was speaking. " Orchid, listen to me, deep breaths okay?" I said, and she nodded. Orchid took in a deep breath. " Hold it for the count of ten." I instructed, and she looked to be counting off in her head. " Out through the nose." She pushed the air through her nose, and she was looking to be a bit calmer. " Now, Orchid, why was he out last night or this morning?" 

Her hands gripped mine tightly, " He was coming out to look for you last night. We were worried that you got hurt when we heard the cannon. He went out on his own. This morning, I went out to find him and...I found this and someone running away from here." She told me as her hands were clutching onto mine. " Someone running away?" I asked quietly, and she nodded. " What did they look like?" I pressed as she was shaking a bit. " I don't know....all I know was that they had short, dark hair." Short dark hair? I hadn't seen many tributes with short dark hair. " Guys, I think that what we need to do is to go back to base an try to regroup. " Newt started while standing and Orchid shook her head. " No....I'm staying, you guys go back." She told us firmly. The three of us exchanged looks and it seemed to be a communication through gestures.

" Should we make her come with us?" Newt asked with a tilt of his head towards her. " Would it be the right thing to do? " Lee questioned, his eyebrows raised up." I think so, but I'm not sure.." I said with a nod and a shrug of the shoulders . " She's still trying to process this, it would be best if we just left her alone." Newt suggested with a heave of his chest and his eyes narrowed towards her. " Wont you guys just go!?" She shouted and we all jumped back a bit. We had never seen this side of Orchid. Newt nodded and leaned over, patting her shoulder gently. " Come back to base when your ready okay Orchid?" He said softly, before motioning for us to follow him.

Lee followed along beside me in silence, as that seemed to be what our trip was entailing. Once we had exited the humidity of the forest, he spoke. " I....can't believe someone would do that." He told him softly as wind started to pick up and blew around the dust that had most likely settled the night before." This is the Hunger Games, people will do crazy things to live and go back home to their family. " I acknowledged as we made our way back to the base. Our movements seemed to creep and crawl along the worn path to the base. 

Newt wasn't saying anything and seemed to be speeding up his own pace. At one point, we both had to jog to keep up with Newt. Finally, we reached a new building. " We moved base....just in case someone would find us." He said, before his eyes went a bit misty at the chain that was secured around the door and door handle. " He..." New paused, " Rau found this and put it here to protect us." "That wouldn't have worked very well." Lee chimed in, before moving in and pushing past him, and going towards the door. With in a matter of about two minutes, Lee had managed to quietly and quickly get the chain off of the door. He held the lock between his forefingers delicately. " See." He said, before tossing the chain away. 

A look of indignation crossed Newt's face before I started to usher him inside the building. This building was more intact that the first one we were in. The walls were covered in scribbles and they looked to be that of a deranged person. Lee lead the way up the steps and Newt and I followed along. His hand reached for mine and limply, I let him take mine into his. We were all quiet as we settled on what seemed to be a second level. There was a fire pit in the middle of the room, and our former beds that were in the old base were brought over and there were two bags settled onto the one mattress. They must be Orchid's and Rau's. Newt quickly snatched up the bags away from Lee, who was going towards the bed to sit down.

" Who do you think did it?" Lee asked, before he sat down. Newt was still up and he was starting up on the fire. I gave a small shrug and set down my pack beside me. " You can rule out you, myself and this one over here." Newt told us as he was grinding sticks away. Lee reached into his bag, pulled out his flint and tossed it to Newt. " Here, you'll need this." He said and Newt actually gave him a smile. I stuck out my hand and ticked off on my hands. Lee,Newt,Orchid and I are ruled out. There was another cannon shot, so there was another person dead,maybe. Five gone and would it be two left or three. I did a re count of deaths. Six from the blood bath, The seven careers, Mai, Scythe and Spear girl, and then Rau and the unknown or maybe it was just the echo of Rau's cannon. Seventeen were dead and there was seven left. Ruling out the four accounted for, it left us with three besides us in the games. We were closer to heading home, just yet so far away. 

" Three." I said softly, and the two boys heads snapped up and looked at me. " Huh?" Their eyebrow's were raised. " Besides Lee, Newt, Myself and Orchid, we have three opponents left to face off against." I told them, and Newt grinned and stood up, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me up. Momentarily, He pulled me up and spun me around in glee. What broke our moment was the awkward coughing that came from Lee. Newt set me down and I smoothed out my shirt and straightened out my hair. " Listen, I know your happy, but we still have three more people left, before it can come down to us, so I wouldn't celebrate just yet." 

What he said was the truth, we couldn't be so happy just yet. Newt nodded at his words, but leaned down and kissed my cheek. My face flushed, and wrapped my arms around him. Lee dipped into his bag once more and pulled out different sort of foods. " Come on, it's a bit of a celebratory thing." He said as he set the things out before us. I grinned, and I knew that Newt was grinning too. Newt let go of me and went back to work on the fire with a renewed energy. I helped Lee set out the food and we briefly discussed a small plan of actions. 

After a fire was roaring, and we had our own meals set out, we started to eat. I settled next to Newt as I was eating, touching the pendant around my neck. I almost forgot that it was there. Newt gave me a bit of curious look, before motioning to the pendant. " Al?" He asked me, almost already knowing the answer. " Yeah, it's my district token." I replied with a small smile passing over my face. " He made me one too." He told me, as he reached in and pulled out a necklace. The pendant that hung on his was a wooden carved newt. I covered my mouth and began to laugh. " That is too great!" I grinned and His face matched mine. " Only he could make me smile in that bad moment. " He said, before he went back to his food. 

I finished mine, and noticed Lee had finished off his, as Newt was finishing off his food. " Uh, Willow..Newt.. I have a suggestion." Lee piped up, wiping his face clean. I raised my eyebrow and he continued on. " What is it?" Newt asked with him head tilted to the side. " Well it's that time between day and night, and we should go out and enjoy something nice.." He suggested as he stood up and went to the window, opening the window for smoke to escape and for us to see outside. It was quite nice out and I nodded that them both. " We should, it would be nice..." I offered. Newt turned and looked at him. " I think we should too." He said as he put down his remnants and wiped his hands clean on his pants. 

Newt stood up and he offered his hand to me, which I took and stood up. All three of us made our way out of the building, humming to ourselves. After we made our way to a small clearing, we settled down onto the dusty ground. We gazed at the slowly shining stars and soon the anthem started up. As the loudest part of the anthem was playing, I heard something...off. It sounded like a cannon. Newt motioned for me to look up into the sky and my breath caught in my throat. Rau's solemn picture, and there was district eleven underneath it. After his picture came another one. Orchid smiling face staring back at me. The two boys beside me were silent, but I felt their hands on my back as a sob escaped my throat in a desperate cry. She was gone? She couldn't be gone. What were we going to do with out her? My body was shaking as I brought my knees up to my chest. The grief hit me hard like a train and the boys words of comfort were lost to me. For once, I didn't want to deal with this death. 

The Careers were dead because I needed to live. It was heartless of me to think of it like that, but they were monsters and for me to get to were I am now, they needed to go. Mai was small and I hadn't done any to save her, but I was there in the end for her. Orchid was very different from them. I had stayed by her and she had stayed by me in the dark times. I could only think that she was brewing her own sadness and she didn't want us to stay by her. Orchid knew what she was going to do and she wanted to be alone for it. In the clear part of my mind, I could have blamed her, who would have? If I was in her place, I would have done the same thing to protect those that cared about me from what I would do. The sad part of me wished that I would have stayed with her and maybe talked her down. Newt's arm tightened around my shoulder and was trying to calm me and get me to stand up. 

After a bit of coaxing, they managed to get me to my feet. My head leaned onto his shoulder and Newt just made a few motioned to comfort me in small ways. Lee stood on the other side of us and slowly, we ambled our way back to the base. It felt that my motions were not my own. It felt that someone else was moving my legs and making me do things that I just didn't want to do. Newt helped hold me up, and Lee quickly cleared off our bed for us. 

Gently, He laid me down onto the mattress and made sure that I wouldn't go anywhere. My mind started to drift off as I was covered up with one of those light blankets that I thought were previously like plastic. The blanket was tucked under my chin, and I felt safe. I felt like I was tucked in back at home where there was no chance of me dying. No chance of any of my friends or family. There would be no chance for some one that I bonded with so closely in such a little time to die. I squeezed my eyes shut and a few cool tears slipped out, rolling down onto my cheeks. Newt's warmth didn't come onto the other side of me, but I could hear him and Lee talking. It was something about burning something to honor her death. 

I adjusted the blanket and opened my eyes slightly to see what they were doing. Lee was digging into his pocket and Newt was going into Orchid's bag. Newt pulled out what looked to be a small bundle of plants. They were dried plants. In one of our alone times, when we would be either gathering or in the base, we would talk about things. She told me that those plants were used in her district to honor the dead. 

Lee wrapped up the plants in string and then tossed them into the fire. They were quiet and I brought the blanket up to my face to hide the fact that more tears were coming out. Smoke reached my nose and the smell reminded me so much of her. My eyes drowsily drifted close when the smoke filled up the room. As I fell over onto the brink of sleep, I could have sworn that I heard Orchid saying don't worry about me. As I heard that, I fell asleep with a big smile on my face.


	29. Chapter Twenty Nine

The next time when I was fully awake, I still felt sad. My mind wanted me to get up and do things, but my body was weary and I didn't want to do anything. Dim sunlight streamed through the open window, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I let out a groan and shook my head slightly. " Willow, Come on, get up." The voice said with a bit of concern in their voice. I shook my head again, letting out a low groan, before pouting a bit. " Willow." I heaved and covered my head with the blanket. " I want to give up, I want to give up on everything." I told the voice.

After a minute or so, I registered the voice as Newt's. " Willow,I won't give up if you won't." He said softly, bringing his hand up and moving away the blanket. His face seemed to be more worn down than before. It looked like he aged over at least a few days. " We were worried about you.." He started as he adjusted himself on the mattress and pulled the blanket away from me. I knew that I had to get up, and I had to survive. 

I nodded and heaved myself up. My breathing was settled as I wiped at my eyes. Lee was settled by the fire and he was roasting some meat over the now greenish tinted fire. " She okay?" Lee asked as He was stuffing some herbs into the slits of the meat, and draping leaves over it. " She's good, I think that she needs to eat though. It's been about two days or so, and she looks a bit thinner than normal. I've been hearing her stomach rumble a bit. " Newt said, his hand brushing against my hair to comfort me. " Come on, Keep your head up, we need you in this." He told me, and I managed a bit of a smile.

The meat was done in a few minutes and I was dealt out the biggest portion of the food. " Come on, eat." Lee encouraged as he stuffed some into his mouth. The meat was fragrant and his was making my mouth water at the smell. It was roasted and when I tentatively placed a small portion into my mouth. The fat had melted down a bit and with the seasoning that he put into the meat, it made it more flavorful than anything that I had eaten before in the arena. 

We ate in quiet, but there was a crackling above us. Crackling? We all stood up and went to the window. It was still a bright day and there was no sign of grey clouds or rumbling coming in. " Dear tributes!" The voice started loudly and in an a very cheerful tone. " We all know how your dearly missing your homes and family here in our lovely arena. So to combat this, We will have a feast! " We all looked at each with confused looks. " Yes, a feast that will have things from your families. Pictures, Letters and all sorts of things. Tomorrow morning the feast will happen and we expect you all to come to participate. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" The voice told us, before the crackling came back and then we were left in quiet. 

Newt grabbed onto me as we all went into the main room. " Well, I'm going to go to the feast, since I'm the last one in my district." Lee said as he sat back onto the bed. " What about you two, I think that you guys are the only pair left." Thoughts raced through my mind. It was dizzying as all sort of outcome ran through my mind. " I'm going by myself." Newt told him and I gasped. I couldn't help it. " What? No! I wont let you!" I started as I grabbed his arm tightly. "It can't be like this!" I said as he turned and gave me a longing look. "Things don't always turn out how they should." He told me as he leaned his hand in and cupped my cheek. " I'm going and your staying so you can stay safe, Okay, no if's ands or buts about it." He said. 

There was no arguing with him so I didn't do it. The newt few hours were passed through the small means of entertainment. Wall games, stories and songs until we all got tired. The fire died down and we all settled in for the night. Newt's arms were around me tight, and he was asleep with in a minute. Lee was already snoring from him side of the room. I shifted onto my side and just listened to his heavy breathing. For the once, when I wanted to sleep, I couldn't. The only thoughts that were in my mind were the saddest things that I could think of. I sighed and pressed my hands against him, murmuring quietly as his fingers interlocked with my own.

I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up and just prayed that he would be safe. When it was still early in the morning when he removed himself from around me. My heart was almost breaking as I felt his hands leave mine. The doors opened and shut with out the slightest bit of loud noise. In all honesty, I didn't want to move. I was scared to think about what would happen with him out there alone. The sun rose and I flopped over onto my back. What should I do? 

There was nothing I could do. I laid there, still and silent. If I would have closed my eyes and thought very hard, I could picture myself back at home. At this time, I would be waking up in my own bed, the birds would be singing and I could hear Rye stirring in the room next to me and our parents talking downstairs. I would come downstairs and get breakfast, before gathering up my school things for the day. Ever since I had grown into my grade, I didn't do much in school, at least not as much as Rye. At my age, I was to be learning a trade for after school, I would need work. Rye would work in medicine and it was questionable where a woman would work. 

A woman was expected to be at home with her husband and taking care of her children. In honesty, I just wanted to work in our family bakery. I was talented at baking. Often, the cakes, pies and other things were made by me with my father by my side. I knew dad was proud of me for my work, He would often praise my talents with a frosting bag, and it was always fun to work with him. I cringed as I heard what may have been a cannon.

The feasts were normally bloody and nasty, and in a way, I was grateful that Newt made me stay back. Slowly, I pushed myself up and made sure the path ways were cleared out for their safe return. It took only a few more minutes when there was screaming and pounding of feet. Shooting to my feet, I went to the window to see Lee and Newt limping or well really sort of limp running towards me. Lee's shirt was bloodied the spot he was holding his side at, and Newt's left arm was dangling as they limp ran. As they got closer, I grinned widely as I saw two bags clutched in Newt's right hand. The larger one was an orange color with a twelve printed across it, and there was a smaller green one with a seven on it. 

I met the boys at the door, and I helped them upstairs, but not before securing the block on the door. There was a noise from upstairs. Groaning and hisses of pain. I made my way upstairs and each boy was laid out on a bed. Lee was shirtless and dabbing away at the cut on his stomach. " I'll be fine." He hissed at me, before nodding over to Newt. He was flopped on his back, his left arm strewn on the floor while his right arm and hand still clutched at the plastic bags. I made my way over and had to gulp a bit before I noticed that his arm was a bit blue and purple. " Willow?" He asked through his teeth as he went to adjust himself to see me. 

" Yeah, it's me silly, don't move." I murmured as I crouched down and settled in beside him. I felt bad for hurting him as I gently grasped it and held it in my hands. His bones were broken into two parts and it looked to be hurting him greatly. " Sorry." I told him softly as I turned it and rested it on his chest. With soft movements, I took the bags from Newt. I set our bag aside and then tossed Lee's bag to him. Lee's breathing a bit heavier, but he shook his head and told me that he would be fine. He just waved me back to Newt. 

I looked up and sighed, mouthing to asking for my parents to send down something to help me. When nothing came down, I knew that we had to do something to make sponsors want to send down something to help us. Inhaling deeply, I shifted myself and sat on the mattress beside him. I ripped off part of his shirt and began to wiped down his grime coated face. He cringed at my touch, but I shushed him, before I began to sing softly. The only song that I could think of was The Hanging Tree. My voice wasn't very loud, but I knew that Newt could hear the words. He was soon humming along side of my singing. 

Suddenly, I stopped my singing and looked at him with a happy smile. " Newt, would you want kids?" I asked him to try to push an image of marriage onto the audience. He grinned at me through his pain and I laughed slightly, " Come on, Answer the question, would you want kids?" I asked as I wiped down his forehead. " Mmmnmm, I think I would really like to have kids." He motioned for me to move closer, and I did. " I think that it would be really nice to have kids, maybe two of them?" He asked and I grinned. " Two, that would be a bit of a handful, two boys , two girls or maybe one of each?" I suggested, tilting his chin up and wiping away dirt. " A boy and a girl." He affirmed with a nod. " Just me, you and our two babies in our happy home. Your great at baking, and I mean come on, everyone really does like your baked goods." 

I laughed a bit louder. It was a bit easier than I thought to banter back and forth with Newt, acting as if we were married. He motioned for me to lean in and I did. With his right hand, he placed it on the back of my head and moved me in close to him. " I love you." He said softly, before leaning up and kissing me on the lips. The kiss was sweet and passionate, full of love and adoration. My hand reaches up and touched his own hand, before we pulled away for air. Lee was hooting with a grin, before he started to go through his bag with a smile. " I love you so much baby." I said as she brushed my fingers along his cheek and under his chin. " Your too perfect too me." There was a beeping outside and our eyes went up to the window. 

I knew that My parents would come through for us! I launched up and went to the window, practically falling out the window to grab onto the sliver parachuted gift. It was a large, rectangular container and I clutched it to my chest as I went inside. The boys perked up as I sat back in my spot. In side was an assortment of things. I pressed the ice pack down onto his arm and let the swelling go down. " Are you sure you want to do this?" Newt asked and I nodded, " You need it, and I am going to do it." Methodically, I started to cast up his arm. Stocking, Padding, and the setting material. It took me a few minutes, but it was casted up. I forced him to take a few painkillers, before sending him off to sleep. 

After cleaning up, I sat by the bed and looked at Lee. He looked paler than normal. " So what happened?" I asked him curiously, tugging our bag close to me as I heard Newt's snoring behind us. He sighed and looked away from me. " Newt and I were by each other and we dashed towards the Cornucopia. District Ten went to the table first, and he had grabbed his first, but as he was going back into the edge of the forest and desert, a knife flew through the air..hitting him in the chest. All of us were shocked. Nobody moved for a good few minutes, but we heard something that sounded like yelling from the underbrush. " He started as he was heaving. 

" Newt, I and District Five took the chance and went to the table. The yelling stopped and a figure broke out of the underbrush. It....was Julius. He looked feral, he truly did. He was shouting some thing about Newt taking you from him and all that sort of nonsense. He was going after Newt with a brandished knife. It was District Five and I who fended the man off. Julius got me in the torso and Newt grabbed the bags for us. Our grip loosened on him, so he went after Newt. He knocked him down and his arm twisted behind and we heard the snapping of his bone. Five took him on as he shouted for us to get going. The cannon you heard was for Ten." He said and let out a puff of air, " Lee, why don't you get some sleep okay?" I suggested as I grabbed onto the bag and moved closer to the fire. " I promise, I'll be fine. " I offered and he nodded, holding his side as he slunk down and went to sleep.

Once, I was sure he was out, I started on the bag. Inside, the biggest things I found were packaged loaves of bread. The loaves looked all to like the ones my dad made back at the bakery. A grin passed over my face as I gently hugged the bread gently and then set them aside to share with the others. There were the things for Newt of course. Things from his sisters, brother and mom. His things were all tied together with a few pieces of ribbon, but I knew that He was going to enjoy seeing the things. I pulled out my things which seemed to be held together with a knot done by my mom. Just by the way it was tied, I knew it was her who gathered the things. 

It took me a few minutes, but I worked the knot out and laid out the items. There were a few pictures of my family. One from My birthday with all of us gathered around a table, One of Rye and I sitting by a tree. I knew that moment, because I had been showing him my sketchbook that day. The last one was one of me when I was little. I was curled up by my godfather's side and he was actually looking happy. I hadn't realized it, but tears were forming in the corner of my eyes. With the back of my hand, I wiped at my face and set the pictures down in my lap. 

The next things were drawings. One was from Rye, and I could have told that easily. His signature was very messy, and his drawing style was a bit wobbly and childlike. I enjoyed his style because it always made me smile. The picture was of our favorite reading tree and us underneath it. Gently, I folded it up and tucked it away with the pictures. The next one was from my dad. His style was a bit more elegant and steady, a very nice thing. The picture was in color, and it made me smile wide. It was a picture of me and mom. I knew it was based off an old picture that we had taken. Mom had been wearing one of grand mom's old flower printed dresses. Effie....an old friend of my parents had gotten a dress in a similar pattern for me for a gift and they had surprised me with it that day. We also had similarly made crowns on that were gifts from dad and Rye. We were laughing and Dad had captured the happiness in the moment. I pressed the picture to my chest and then folded it up to be with the other ones. 

The last things were the letters. It was a small stack and they were addressed from different people. The first ontop was from Rye. Ever so gently, I tore open the envelope and turned over the thing so it would pour out. It was one page and I unfolded it. It read. " Willow, Your doing great! You look so cool out there and we're all rooting for you back home. You wouldn't believe how many people are telling me that your so cool.I really want you to come back home, so do it okay? LOVE RYE!" I giggled and shook my head slightly, before sliding it back into the envelope. The next one was from my dad, his was a bit lengthier. " Willow, You wouldn't believe how happy your mother and I am. You've done so well so far, and you wouldn't think of how much the crowds adore you. They call you Amazon, or I've even heard you been called The Hanging Tree. I believe in you so much. Your much like your mother and if you can keep up this strength, you can definitely win. I love you and I can't wait to see your face when you come out. Love Dad." Dang, those stupid tears again. I wiped at my face and set the letter aside. 

The second to last letter was from mom. When I pulled the paper out, I took in a deep breath. " Lola, I can't believe this. When you got reaped, I was scared. You were just like me on my reaping day. I was so proud of you when you were strong and did good for yourself. Truly, I was not expecting for you to get so far and do so well. I know, it's terrible, but I went through the same emotions you went through. Stay strong, I know you can do it. Your so close to the end game and you have my strength Lola, you can do it. Remember, don't get too attached to Newt. It's going to hurt you in the end and you wont be able to deal with it. Please, just trust me on this, Mother knows best. I hope you enjoy the bread we included since you were talking so much about it. From Mom."

The last letter was unexpected. It was addressed from Haymitch, my godfather. His words were a mix a bit curly and a bit stocky, and there were drops speckled on the envelope and letter. It didn't smell that bad of alcohol, just a small bit of it. When I unfolded the crinkly paper, my heart dropped a bit in my throat. He had written me a letter. 

" Willow. 

Truthfully, your parents wanted me to write you something. I didn't want to. It was hard to think of the face that you were going to be sent to your death. This was never the life your family wanted for you. Out of all the years I've been a mentor, your one of the better ones that I've seen in a while, and I've seen some pretty bad tributes. I know what it's like to go through the process. I know how terrible it is to be scrubbed down by people who barely know you. To be put in something so stupid and be paraded in front of wicked people who are all to happy to be a helping hand in your death. You did make a good choice to get with the wolves. Night lock, I would not have thought of that before, but it was a fast and easy way to take them out. I don't know what piece of shit advice your folks told you, but you should pay attention. The relationship thing is going to be nice for a while, but it's gonna have to end soon. I know you know it, but fuck it I'm telling you because you need to hear to from someone else than your mom who you ignore more than anything. Get your head and mind straight and focus on the end game. The end game is being the last ones alive. It's kill or be killed out there. Get to the cornucopia and perch yourself there so you have the advantage for the end game. Lilo, I don't tell you this enough, but I love you kid and you need to come home.

-Haymitch."

I reread the letter about four times and I let a sigh heave from my chest. He was right. The end game was what I needed to focus on. Everyone back home would be counting on us to get through. I couldn't process that thought that lingered in the back of my mind.To get home, I would have to kill Newt or just let myself stand by and let him get killed by someone else. 

I spared a small glance at Newt's sleeping form. His chest rose up and down slightly, and he was snoring like a horse. Smiling, I touched the pile of paper in my lap. Should I go with what every one was telling me and abandon him to give myself a better chance at the slim idea that I may live through the other ones here to go home to my family? Or should I go with my own heart and head to stick by him? Newt risked a lot for me. He put himself up on the block to be a tribute to protect Rye. He followed along with the plan set out before us to make us look more appealing to the crowds. He then lead his new team mates to find me and make sure I was safe. As far as I knew, he hadn't shown much anger towards the stupid things I have done. He has been my fail safe, the one I could turn to in the worse of times and he has been my support when I felt like my whole world was going to crash around me. 

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I really did love him. I loved him with all of my heart and I couldn't think of anything else with out him. He was a great guy, a tremendous friend, and a marvelous person in general. Newt was the sunlight in the rain, the moon in the night and arrow to my compass. Groaning, I leaned my head down into my hands, heaving out some sort of strange noise that was between a grunt and a cry. Why did I have to realize this now. The end game was near and I finally get it through my stupid head that I was in love. Tears were streaming out with more force now. I didn't want to be the one to have a hand in his death. I would feel so guilty and I just wouldn't know what to do with myself. 

As I tried to compose myself, I gave a look out the open window. With a heavy push, I got myself up off the ground and I ambled my way to the dusty and dirty thing. A gale of wind blew through the air. With it brought up a kick of dust from the surrounding area. From a far off distance brought the all too familiar smells of damped earth, that brought to my mind the fresh Saturday mornings when Mom and I would trek out into the forest. It brought smells of various flowers and fruits. To help out on special orders, I would take Rye into the forest to pluck the fresh and wild fruits that grew close to the edge of the fence. We would pluck out flowers to either decorate the treats that our father made or we would settle in nice, protected glades were we would form the flowers into crowns we would wear or on the rarest occasions, Mom would take us to the Hob and we would sell them there. People enjoyed seeing us there and we would always have at least a small stream of people to buy our crowns. The sounds of rushing water and the smell that was brought to me made me sniffle. One of the only family sort of outings we had, was into the forest. Rye had clung to our Dad as we all trekked our way through the hills and well worn paths to a wide, crystal clear pool. A small waterfall ran down an outcropping of rocks and They encouraged us to jump in. That day was the one of the memories I could count on to help me get through bad and sad times. 

Slowly, I tucked my head down and let out a few shallow breathes. My heart was going a mile a minute, and I tried to get it to slow down. The noises that surrounded me were a bit off now. Newt's snoring was loud and heavy, like the horse that was near the meadow. The crackling of the fire that was supposed to be warming the room and the backside of me. Lee's breathing was coming in short breathes and they seemed to be painful gasps. I turned around slowly, and despite what I was trying to do, my heart started to speed up more. I tried to make my foot steps light and quiet so that I would not wake up the other sleeping person in the room. As I got closer to him, I saw that his hand was holding on his side, on the side that had been stabbed by the crazy one in the arena. Blood had seeped out through his shirt and was on to his hand. Lee had tried to put it off all that time as to not worry us. He wanted to go in his own way, and I understood. I felt the sting in my chest as his chest stopped moving that much. 

His body stopped moving and he went stiff. There was a small beep and then there was a cannon shot in the distance. District Seven was out of the game. As I crouched down, I saw that he had received plenty of pictures of his own family. Sisters, brothers, a mother and a father. Quietly, I picked up his blanket and brought it up over him that I knew that was traditional of the ways to respect the dead. " Good night Lee, and Thank you for you did." I said as I moved his feast bag over to him and moved his pack bag over to us. I pulled out his water pouched and tossed it onto the fire. I didn't want to have a bright, shining, and hopeful light tonight. Like a machine, I bent over and I crawled onto the mattress. I curled my body around Newt's, and moved his blanket over the both of us. When my face was pressed into his back, I just let myself cry.


	30. Chapter Thirty

Truthfully, In the morning, I had not told Newt. He figured that fact out on his when he woke up and there was a body sized rectangle cut in the wall. He was quiet most of the morning, but he looked at me with a sad look. " When?" He asked softly as he ran his free hand through his fringe. " Last night, when he was trying to sleep." I told him as I began to separate out our packs. I handed over his things from his family, and tried to perk him up with the fact that we had two loaves of bread. He did manage a tiny laugh and smile, before going to reading his letters and all. 

While he was reading, I made sure that we had equal portions of everything, and I recounted the number of arrows I had. Seven. I had seven arrows left to spare in the highly likely chance that we would get attacked. " End Game plan..." I started as I began to cut up the loaves. He made a noise of non commitment as he continued to read on. " We're going to the Cornucopia." I stated firmly, assured of my own plan. " What?" He started, as he looked at me with an wild look on his face. 

" No, Listen. Don't you understand. We draw out the last bit of tributes into the open and then it will just be us, okay?" I stated as I finished up with the first loaf. I wrapped up the bread and handed it over to him, pushing it into his bag. My things were already packed away and I was all but prepared to start off. " You finish up, and then we'll get going, okay?" I said as I pointed the knife at him, my eyes narrowed a bit. He just nodded and finished up with his letters. By that time, I had finished off the second loaf, save for two chunks of bread. 

We gathered what we could, while eating the chunks and downing the last bits of our water supply. " We need more water." He said as he popped the last bite into his mouth. I nodded in agreement as we headed out into the empty city. Slowly, we made out way towards the forest. Our knives were brandished as we stepped into the forest. I took the lead, seeing as Newt was still trying to recover from his broken arm. The sun soon went up into highest point of the sky, and it was beating down hard on us. 

Slowly, we were trying to track anything that would lead us to a reliable source of water. I tried to go off and find the place where I had met Lee, the place were the brook had been babbling when I heard the other girl die. When we approached the brook, it was a bit lower that I thought it was before. We bent into the brook, and let the water slide into our containers and water skins. I motioned for Newt to stay next to the brook and I pulled out one of the skins. I used the water to start scrubbing him clean. " Hey, we want you to be clean for your parents to see you fend off the other tributes." I told him with a giggle, before scrubbing off his cheek and his face and neck. 

Newt and I switched places and he helped me the best that he could at washing my hair, and braiding it back up. " Maybe I should cut it short after this? " I suggested as I heard him sort of struggle with the braid. He shook his head, " Nah, I like it long, but come on and let's get going before the sun starts to set more. " He said as he tugged me a bit off the ground. We regathered and we headed out back into the forest. 

The sun slowly set, and we found ourselves a little leaf outcropping. We settled our selves in nicely, our packs as pillows and our arms wrapped around each other. " How many do you think are left?" He asked as the start up for the anthem played. The flourishes blared and we were just settled in by each other, waiting for the portraits to show up. The only portrait that was on tonight was Lee's. His face was set in a neutral expression, but he seemed to be hiding something behind that. Which from the small time we knew him, it happened to be the truth. 

" He was a good guy." He murmured as he brought his hand up and brushed away the hair from my face." I know, but still it was just a bit more of a sting to my heart when I heard him stop. " I told him as I snuggled close to him and rested my head on his chest. " Willa, Come on, it's not good to dwell on the past, okay?" I nodded and closed my eyes. " Go to sleep and we'll start out again to the end point." He sung me softly to sleep as I drifted into a peaceful rest. 

The next morning came in with a sweep of anticipation. We both wiggled out and He took out two pieces of bread, making sure I ate. " You need to be full just in case we get in to a fight, alright?" He said as he rubbed my back, making sure I got water into me. The walk was less quick this time and more of an amble this time. I recognized the area around us. From the first night, this was were I ran off into after the blood bath. Newt had me on his hurt side, so I would be able to fend off any one that tried to attack from the wounded side. 

We sneaked up through the under brush, and we settled in for only a few moments, surveying the area. That was Newt's idea. My own guess was that it for his own comfort. His rushing out to the cornucopia is what caused the injury so he didn't want to test any thing just yet. 

I picked up a handful of nearby stones and began to toss them into the area to test for any sort of trap. After I had run out of stones and we were under the cover of the night, we made our dash to the cornucopia. As we soon approached the stone platform and the woven structure, I was hit with the fact that I killed people on these grounds. That was a very bitter pill to swallow for me. In one swift motion, I slipped my bag off of my back and down in front of me. I dug out the gold bracelet, the one I had stolen from the District One girl. 

Quickly, I tossed it out onto the ground, sighing, before turning back into the Cornucopia. Newt had set up our bed and I joined him on the stone. We wrapped our arms around each other as best as we could as laid down to sleep, and I was trying to enjoy my last possible moments with him that night.


	31. Chapter Thirty One

We were pretty much quiet for the passing days. We had our camp set up and we hunted for food. Most of the time it was Me out hunting and Newt was out at camp. It was the third day since we had gotten to the cornucopia, when we noticed the changes. The air had grown hotter and it was getting more oppressive by the passing moment. It reminded me much of one summer back home. The summer had forced most of us in to our houses. I had laid out on my bed and the heat was making it muggy and hard to breathe.

It was Newt, who was my savior one day. He kept tossing pebbles at my window and he was calling for me. I didn't know how he even got in. With my parents being Victors, we lived in the gated off Victor's Village and we had everything that we needed. The walls around our houses were made of stone and they were high, and there was also metal spikes and a metal fence that was supposed to protect the Victors from the other people in the District. I had to attempt it was cool to have a gate open and feel like your making an entrance, when in reality, we were just going to school. Newt had snuck me out of our house. Well it wasn't really sneaking out, since my parents had seen us, but He snuck me out of the village.

We went into the town, and we had gotten ice cream to cool ourselves off. It wasn't all that great, but it was something that was cold that was a welcomed gift on the hot day. I trampled my way through our now worn down path through the underbrush and to our own little hunting places. I plucked out a few edible plants, flowers and a few small fruits that weren't going to kill us. It took my a bit longer than I expected, but I took down a little rabbit for food. We hadn't eaten anything really that sustainable. Well we had kept eating the bread that we given to us, but we didn't have anything really that was heavy and very filling. We just ate a few things of bread during the day as we worked.

The sweltering heat was momentarily broken by a gust of air as I turned back to the path. I did notice that water was getting a bit lower in the small springs that I have seen on my tracks through. Would the game makers be trying to make us all come together? I shifted the load in my arms as I ducked underneath the brush and then adjusted the brush back into the place so our path would concealed from the other two tributes left.

Often, we tried to think of the way that we could get the last two gone and it would be down to us. Most of our plans were silly, but I guessed it was just our own way of coping with the looming thought of one of our deaths. Ah yes, always a nice that that when your going to sleep, it might be your last night alive. Newt was tending the fire as rounded the corner on the cornucopia and he smiled at me, " What did you get this time?" He asked as he poked a stick into the crackly fire. The embers turned and tumbled over each other in the make shift fire pit we had made on our second day here.

I sat down and began to divide what I had gotten out in my latest trip. There was the rabbit, there was the small gathering of plants, flowers and little handful of fruit. " Mm...well, I guess we'll just have to work with what we have." He said as he went for the rabbit. As he worked on defurring it, I was cleaning up my weapons. " How many do you have left?" He asked and I raised an eyebrow. " How many of what?" I questioned him,rubbing my cleaning cloth along the tips of the arrow I was holding. " Arrows Willow, Arrows. How many left?" He asked with a bit of force to his voice.

That I was not expecting out of his mouth. Newt reminded me too much of a little dog who was trying to make himself seem bigger by trying to bark louder. Bark bigger than his bite. " Still seven." I told him as I sheathed and un-sheathed arrows to clean them. " Keep them safe, don't break them. We'll need them..we'll need them badly in these last few days." He said as he tossed away the fur. I nodded quietly. That I understood, we needed all of our weapons to be in top notch to defend ourselves against the things that want kill us.

They weren't things, they were people. I hit my head gently and sighed deeply. I had to push it through my head. It was true. I was a person, Newt was a person and the last two tributes were people too. I adjusted myself on the ground, folding my legs underneath myself as I worked on cleaning up the other weapons. My two knives that I've had from the after killing the careers. Against a stone, I sharpened the knives to make sure that they weren't to dull from the different things they must have been used for. Newt had a couple of various things to be used as weapons. I grinned when I found that he had kept a stick, some string and a pointed rock. With out him looking at me, I pressed the rock onto the stick and tied it up tightly. Of course it was a bit more primitive looking, but in the shape of a hammer, and it's pointed tip, It could be used for different things.

When he turned back to me, I grinned brightly at him. " Lola, what did you do?" He asked with a bit of a laugh. " Didn't do anything! I just sort of maybe made something.." I told him as I held the hammer behind my back. " Well what did you make?" He asked and I pulled it out. His eyes lit up a bit, and I offered it to him. " So how do you like it? " I asked him, and he tossed it a bit in his hand. " It's perfect Lola, just perfect." He leaned over and kissed my cheek softly. " I saw that you had the things and I thought that it maybe a good gift for you to have in your arsenal. With a bit of a broken arm, it is kinda hard to move around and do stuff." I shrugged and turned back to the things in front of me.

 

 

" Do you think that we can do it?"

 

My head shot up and I looked at him. " What do you mean by that?" I asked him. " Do you think that we can win over the other tributes? I mean we've made it this far. It was unheard of before for District Twelve to get here, besides your parents." He said his face was contorted a bit with worry. My mind ran. I kinda figured that we could, but I had mostly gotten to this point on the support of others, lies and other stupid things. It was probably sheer dumb luck for me. " Think so.." I murmured quietly. Newt had made his way through because he did something really smart, and it was what I did too. He teamed up with the under dogs. He also he did have his own talents. A howl rang out from some where in the arena and both our bodies freezed up. " Should we get back to maybe setting up a camp?" He asked, and quickly, I nodded.

I left him with the weapons, and took up my spare wire and rope. The sun was slowly going down as I was forming up the traps in the dying light. I placed the traps close to the abandoned city side and the desert side of our campsite. I wanted to make sure that we would be protected from either side of the camp. In front of our site was the other side of the forest. Lastly, I set the final trap down by on the edge of where our path was.

On my heel, I turned back and I smiled at Newt, who was settled in the mouth of the Cornucopia. Our fire roared with a lively noise. He motioned for me to sit and we settled in next to each other. My head rested on his shoulder as we looked out into the arena. The sun was slowly down and the night creatures were coming out to see us. The forest was alive and so was everything around us,expect for us. His hand reached down, and touched mine, before he gave me a kiss on the cheek.

He murmured to me that he was going into the Cornucopia and going to get something, before standing up. He headed in and I was there alone. My eyes were drifting a bit close, but I was snapped awake by the sound of running and panting. A figure broke through the tree line, and I was up in an instance with my bow aimed at it. My heart was racing faster that I thought before, and the figure came towards our camp at a fast pace, and was yelling and waving something at me!


	32. Chapter Thirty Two

As the figure came closer, I was a bit shocked to see that a knife was sticking out of his arm. I drew the bow string back, my fingers touching my lips. It was an honest second nature to me. My arms were stiff as I let the arrow fly at the figure. The arrow pierced the figure's unhurt arm and it grunted, stopping and grabbing at it's arm. From the grunt, I could tell that the figure was a male. It was an easy thing to listen for. The deepness of the grunt and the way they reacted to different pains. Males tended to flex out and act as if they bigger, before going to attack again. Females tended to hold the wound, going down and then assessing the thing, before going back to attack you. 

I slid another arrow into the notch and aimed again. He stumbled forward and saw that I had set up traps. Slowly, I stepped off of the cornucopia slab and headed up towards him. " Who are you?" I asked, trying to make my voice seem scarier than I was. In honest, I've been told that I sound like I am a mewling kitten. I knew I stood fully in the light, and I moved towards him. The tribute was lean and he had a gruesome look on his face as he held a small spear brandished in his hands. 

I stepped to the edge of the ensnared area and had my arrow pointed at his face. He grabbed at me and I spun out of his grasp. I stepped back and tried to keep my bow at the ready. I had my freshly sharpened and freshly cleaned knife, but it may take me a few fate sparing minutes to pull it out. As it was in the training for the arena combat, it was a cat and mouse game between us. On my own accident, I stumbled back and fell onto the ground. I landed with a hard thud and within a few seconds, he was on top of me. 

The moonlight shone down on and caste eerie shadows on his face. I winced under his tight grip, before he brought up the spear to my face." Listen..." He started, his breath hot on my face, it smelled rancid. It took a bit of self control not to blow chunks into his face. None of us had any means to proper cleaning methods, so it was just a passing thing he must chosen to ignored. " You've gotten too far on sheer luck..Well princess, it looks like we're going to change that now." The tip of the spear dug into under my chin, forcing me to look in his eyes. 

It wasn't insanity that was driving this. Insanity would have lead to more strange things. Following and Stalking us,leaving clues it was him. No, this was survival. The survival instinct that would drive animals and human alike to do crazy things. That's what was truly driving us all in here. The survival instinct that pushed us to hunt, and do things we regret later.

He broke off the spear tip as he let me up a bit. After freeing the sharpened rock, he pinned me down by my neck. " How should we start?" He asked himself as he drew out the last syllable in his sentence. His free hand grabbed my chin and tilted it down, before running the cooled, jagged edge of the tip along my jaw line. " Slow and painful, making your husband watch as I cut your luck?" There was a sharp pain on my jaw as I felt a warmth bubble up at the spot. He had started. 

Though he had my torso mostly pinned down, my arms were free and so were my legs. Out of the corner of my eye, noticed a movement by the cornucopia, and then saw Newt step out. There was a just a quick nod from him, before I went to my plan. My bow was almost a fingers length away from me on the left, but would still be too hard to grab unnoticed. On my right was my knife. It wasn't really my knife, it was Lee's knife. When I had divided up Lee's bag to sate our needs, I found he hand many assorted knives on him. This knife was large enough to fit in a sheathe, and be used for various things, but it was still easy to hide. 

My right hand slowly went to my side as I felt for the handle. Finally my hand touched the smooth wooden finish of the handle and slowly pulled it out. He was lost in his on ramblings as I brought my legs up slowly. I'm small and compared to him, I'm the mouse. Digging my knees into his rib cage, he stopped and looked at me. Forcefully, I shoved the back of my heels into his back and he was trying to stop me. He tugged at my knees, but I just dug them in to his rib cage harder. It was my anger that drove me to push him off of me and lash out with my knife. 

I drove my knife into his side, honestly hoping that I would miss anything really vital. I gave a small turn of the handle and he screamed, before he was knocked off of me. Newt held his new hammer in his good hand. He had given it a good swing and aimed it above his temple. I sat up and wiped at my face and the small cuts I had received from him. District Five had a gash in the side of his head from the rock, and it was already bleeding. I stood up and plucked up my bow before he could grab it from me. 

I let him go to town on him for a few minutes. Using his cast and hammer as a weapon, he gave a few good cuts and bruises on him. " Let's do it together." I told him softly as I showed him the knife. He understood what I was getting at when he wrapped his hand around mine. Together we brought our arms up plunged it into his chest. We did it a few good times for a good measure, just so he wouldn't come back and hurt us. He grabbed my arm and I heaved him up off of the dying tribute. 

He leaned against me as we moved towards the cornucopia and his hand held my tightly. It took a bit as we tried to avoid the traps and he cleared out his throat. " You did it." He said as we reached the warmth of the fire. With a gentle shove, he pushed me down to the ground. " Stay and I'm going to get some thing to clean you up." He said as he ambled back into the base. Newt brought out the tiny first aid kit and started to clean up my face. The tribute had his fun time marking up my face, and I had to just forget about the stinging in my face. 

It was a few more minutes, before I was bandaged up the right way so I wont get a too bad of an infection. He pressed a soft kiss to my cheek and smiled softly at me. " I'm so sorry that I wasn't out there in enough time to stop this from happening. " He said as he ran his fingers along my bandaged jaw." I am so...so sorry." I leaned in and kissed him on his lips slightly. " Newt, please don't worry about it." I sighed and wrapped my arms around my torso, sighing and puffing out my cheeks. 

I almost died. I really almost died because of the survival instinct of someone else. " Three." he breathed out next to me. That registered clearly in my mind. There was three of us left and we were just days away, not even days it maybe even just hours until the true end game. His hand gripped mine tightly and I gave his a tight squeeze. If the odds were going to be in our favor, I hoped that it would come down to just Newt and I. I might be easier for it to happen if it was just between us.

Newt let go of my hand and turned,to me, worry lines creasing up in his face. " I'm going to go settle in okay?" He said and I just nodded quietly. The wind blew through my hair, and sent shivers down my spine as I heard a distant yelling, before the cannon shot cut through the air and the word just escaped from my mouth and was carried onto the wind. " Julius." The end was near and my death would be decided by the choices of a deranged tribute and a slightly crazed group of makers, As I slowly stood up and shuffled my way to the spot that had been set up for me, a single thought ran through my mind. 

I could only hope that the game makers were more merciful than Julius was.


	33. Chapter Thirty Three

The next day, I woke up earlier than before. I woke up and felt my heart start going fast as my mind began to play the events of the previous night before. I had fought sleep in a few different times during the night, so I decided to do something. I decided that to calm my nerves, I would go hunting. As I pulled on my now two heat regulating jackets, I leaned over and kissed Newt's cheek. He was still sleeping, but this time, I knew it was a light sleep. My own guess was that he was still shocked from last night. 

Slowly, I stood up shouldered up my bag, bow and quiver. Six, I had six of arrows left to kill what ever needed to be killed. I gave a quick crack of my neck and arms, before heading out of the cornucopia. A low mist clung to everything in the area as I stepped out onto the grass. Beneath me, the ground was soggy and albeit a bit springy to the touch. Inhaling deeply, I calmed down. It always seemed to be the fresh morning air that would be the one thing to calm me down. 

Sparring a brief glance back to the cornucopia, I smiled at the thought of returning to Newt with a good catch that we can cook up while waiting for either the game makers or Julius to take us out. I sprinted lightly towards our well worn path with the new confidence in my chest. When I reached the covered area, I started to notice that something was wrong. When I touched the underbrush, the plants crumbled underneath my fingers. 

Crumbling? That was very off putting to say the least. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as I pushed on. Going through the now twigs, I headed up the hill and started to look for my little niches. Since we have been here, I was able to find the little niches where I could count on getting food and water from. My first stop was normally a small pond where I could set up a fisher's trap and gather up water. When I had reached the pond, it was bled dry and I just groaned, not wanting to even think of what was to come. 

Stop after close stop, I found out that the game makers had a sort of twisted sense of humor. My favorite and reliable places to hunt were gone. They were either trashed or they were just not there any more. They forced me to go farther and farther from the cornucopia and farther from where I could quickly run to Newt's rescue. 

It made me think that they had something planned for Newt when he was alone. I tried to rationalize with myself, saying that if I would just run back then we wouldn't have anything and then I would just have to come back out here again. The morning sun had now risen and it was still a bit low in the sky, but it gave me a decent view of my surroundings. 

I trekked through the forest and trampled down anything in my path. It had been a quiet trip into the forest, and my own mind wandered around. I played with the thoughts of it would be me who found Julius and took him down. Last night, I had proven to myself that I was more than just dumb luck. I was a fighter, and not anyone, any where could take that away from me. Hunting was harder than any other day, beside maybe the first day.

Also I had to climb up farther in the trees and I used most of my arrows to take down the birds in the trees. My arrows were now bloody, but I still had them with me. It was about high noon while I finally climbed down my perch tree. The day was warm, and not just from the heat. My jackets were stuffed in my bag and I held the birds by their claws upside, as I shimmied down the tree. As I traveled about a bit, collecting the other things that I needed, I had this strange feeling in my chest and in my stomach. It happened when I thought of Newt and the fact that I left him all alone out there. 

After I had gotten enough water to suit the both of us, I set out on my journey back to the base. I had to retrace my steps in the slightly moist ground, before I noticed something. At points, there were another set of foot prints. Another set? That would be hardly possible...unless.. Pausing, I crouched down next to one of the particular sets of footprints. I traced my finer around the edge of the print, giving it a hard study. 

My foot prints were small and pointed a lot more up towards my toes. That showed in the boots that they had given me to wear in the arena. Newt's foot prints were more longer and narrow, and that reflected in the shoe choice. These were squat and rounded, nothing like what I had seen before. It all clicked together in my head. My head snapped up and I looked around, Had he been following me this whole time? Pressing a hand to my chest, I inhaled deeply, trying to state my own fears. He couldn't have been following me the whole time! That was silly. He couldn't have been following me this whole time. He couldn't. I managed to slow down my heart and breathing as I stood up and clutched the prey tighter, as I made my way down the hill. At the crest of the hill is were the foot prints ended from him. They had been facing the north and they would have been following me in the morning. 

I sucked in some air, before pushing my way on back to the base. Instead of letting my mind wander and I trail off like I did when I would when I would hunt alone. There was a gale of warm air pressing on to my face as I slowly approached the crumbling underbrush. Before I would step out, I stopped myself and stayed behind a tree when I saw a hulking figure come up from the border lands of the desert and the forest. It was Julius! His once freshly groomed and neat appearance was no more. 

He had scars across his chiseled face and his shirt was ripped down his chest. He stalked behind Newt and I felt a lump in my throat and fire in my lungs as I wanted to scream out so badly. Why couldn't I get the words out of my mouth? Julius stood up to his full height and I saw the menacing glint of a knife in his hands. 

My body began to tremble and I bit down on my bottom lip to stop the noise to come out of my mouth. He let out a grunt and hefted the knife towards Newt's back. Newt yelled in pain as he grabbed at his wound, before turning around and seeing the hulking monster that was once the suave and elegant District One tribute. Julius had bull rushed him and I squeezed my eyes shut tightly. I couldn't move from my spot. Why was I rooted to the ground? 

Oh Newt, please...please forgive me for my inaction. Newt was screaming for me, but he wasn't screaming for long. There was the sound of flesh slicing and I cringed. It took a few seconds, but the cannon rung out. He....no....not now.

Everything inside me was numb and it just all hurt me on the inside. I choked out a sob and sank down... No. it couldn't be happening to me. I had to snap out of my stupor as I heard my name being called in a sing song voice. 

" Willllooowww~" He voice resonated with me as I straightened up and wiped at my face. " Oh come on Willa, now that he's gone..we can be together." He sung as I heard him talk in to the arena air. A plan....I just needed some sort of plan. As quiet as I could, I slipped my bow off my back. Would I have enough arrows to shoot down the monster? 

A sly grin passed on my face as I tightened my grip on the curve of the bow. I had gotten through the interviews and the games on the flowery words I could create on the fly. Who said I couldn't win the games like that? The string was a hefty plastic and it would do for what I needed to do to win the games and do what I promise. I just hoped that mom would forgive me for breaking one of her favorite kinds of weapon.

When the wood splinted underneath my fingers, I brought myself to stand up and stand into view. " Julius!" I called, drawn out to make it seem more...sensual in a sense. He was on his knees neat Newt's now bloody corpse. Only giving his paling body a quick glance, I just wished that his end wouldn't have been so gruesome. " Willa!" He said, a smile passing over his now terrifying looking face. " Of course it's me. " I responded a playful, yet forced smile. " You did such a good job." I told him as I moved in closer, my broken weapon dangling in my hand. " I could just kiss you." I said, bringing the broken bow up around his neck. 

He looked pitiful to say the least. He had these big eyes and he was smiling like he had something so precious to him. As I let the bow settle there for a second, before bringing my hand up underneath his chin. I could feel burn marks and un-treated stings. They must have been from tracker jackers that I occasionally saw in the forest. I tilted up his head and chin, grinning at him. " Maybe I should.." I said into his ear with a breathy tone, before letting my other hand grasped part of the bow. " Or I should do something else..." I grabbed at the broken part and pulled the string tight around his neck. 

His face was marked with alarmed as he reached up and tried to claw at his neck. I growled and pulled it tighter, making sure to hit the needed points to really hurt him. I started to drive my knee into his lower torso with a renewed anger and strength that I didn't know I had. Pulling the string tighter and driving my knee into his torso, I felt something break under my hits as he started to go limp. I left him fall back once he was fully limp and straddled his chest. His heart beat was still there, but it was a weak beat at that. 

I pulled out my knife and drove it down in to him. I did that a few times and then I felt the ringing of the death cannon in my ears. 

I had won. Speakers crackled to life above me, and I turned my head to the sky, specks of blood spattered on my face. " Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me introduce to you the winner of the ninety second hunger games. Willow Mellark!" It set in with me, and I felt the numbness start to take over me. I had won, but I won at the cost of losing all my friends and I had lost the one I loved the most. A cool wind blew through and I could see the distant shape of a hellicarrier coming down. Once it was low enough to pick me up, a latter rolled out and I took a small breath. I was sore, and I didn't want to move that much. I reached up and grabbed onto a rung and lodged my foot on the bottom one, before I heard a distant wheel turning, and I was pulled up into the air. 

Once at the top, I was pulled into the craft and sighed as I felt my whole body throb, before I fell in to a deep sleep. It was not a restful sleep, just more of an over coming numbness, but I welcomed it any way.


	34. Chapter Thirty Four

Beep. Beep. Beeeeeppp.

The annoying drone of the machine that seemed to be purposefully set by my ears to wake me up in the most terrible way possible. I groaned and rolled over, but my movement was restricted by something attached to my arm. The things pinched my arm and they were long, heading off of my body and they felt to be plastic. 

Slowly, I opened my eyes and I was met with a dull grey. It was a complete shock from the similarly bright hues of green, brown and greys of the arena. I was in a bed. Not one that I had while with the others. This one had support to it, and it felt like the mattresses back at the Capitol when we were in training. When it all clicked fully with me is when I saw a cool blue liquid sliding down the tubes. I had won! I had won the games against everyone else. A smile passed over my face as I pulled myself up in bed. It must have been a shock to most people, but something just felt wrong about this. 

I should be celebrating with Newt. We should be talking about how we would be going home to our siblings, friends and family. My hair was matted down to my face, not by dirt or anything like that, but by dampness. I reached my free hand up and touched my hair. It wasn't knotted or matted as it had been before. It was freshly washed and it was pulled back in to a low pony tail. That's when I looked back down at my body.

I was draped in a hospital dress and had a thick blanket over my lower body. Tentatively, I lifted up the blanket and looked at my legs. There was stitching up on my left calf. It look to be a knife wound. The flesh around the stitches was puckered and angry red. Had I gotten this cut when I was killing..him? I knew had not gotten it at any time before then. All across my legs were marks that looked to be a lot like claw marks. I hadn't been marked up before. In my rush adrenaline, had I ignored the fact that Julius was fighting back against me? 

My eyes trailed up my body and I found that I had scars and other things littering my body. I didn't feel any pain, but my own guess was that the blue stuff they were pumping in me were pain killers. Some body entered the room and I looked up to find it was a young man. He was quiet and he was holding a tray. I tried to offer up my best smile, but my excitement from winning was wearing off and I just wanted it all to be gone. In one swift motion, he raised up a support thing and he set down the tray. 

" Thank you." I murmured softly as he settled the tray down in a proper fashion. There was a bowl of murky colored broth, a frilly glass with a clear liquid in it and a bit of bread set aside. He smoothed out my blankets, and I spoke again. " Did you see it?" I asked. The servant nodded slightly. " How did it look?" The servant held my gaze for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. He wasn't able to talk, that was something I knew but I just wanted to know how it looked to those not in on everything. The servant gave a sparring glance around the room, before mouthing to me. " Not too bad." And with that,He was out of the room. 

With a bit of a mild interest, I went for the broth. After taking in a spoonful and affirming that it wasn't going to be the death of me, I continued to eat. It tasted like a mix of lamb and beef, and I drank it down eagerly. As I had my bowl tilted up and draining out the broth, the door swung open. In came the last person I wanted to see. 

Denio was grinning broadly as she made her way to me. " Oh my precious little winner, I just knew you could do it!" She said in a sickly sweet tone. I knew that she was faking it. It wasn't really hard to tell that she was, but she wanted to be happy that she had done good with her tribute. I raised an eyebrow at her as I continued to slurp down the broth. " Really?" I asked as I set down the bowl and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand,instead of the napkin that was placed out from me. Maybe I was taking a sick pleasure in this, but when I saw her cringe, I giggled to myself. " Really! Now, my little tribute, we need to get the rest of this into you before we get back." 

I plucked up the slice of bread and ripped off a piece, before mopping up the broth and popping it in to my mouth. " Back where?" I asked as I stuffed the other part of the bread in my mouth. " To your stylists and we need to get you prepared for your interview." She said as she nudged the glass towards me. Reluctantly I took it and began to sip on it. It tasted something that was a kin to a meadly of blended fruits. The room shook a bit, but it stabled quickly afterwards. " Take the glass with you." She told me as she made her way to the door. For once, I was all too glad to follow her. 

I pulled the tubes from their connectors and stood up on slightly shaky feet. I remembered to grab the glass and I slowly began to follow her to where I was greeted with loud cheers. It was just my style team and I couldn't find my parents in the crowd.

Venus and Octavian were chattering away about my win, and Aphrodite pushed her way to the front and wrapped me in hug. " I'm sorry." She said as she squeezed me tightly. I just nodded and sighed slightly. " well come on, we have a lot of work to do and only a small bit of time to do it in!"She said as she pulled away from me and turned to the two. After their soft talking,I was grabbed by arms and pulled along in to the darkness and to what I could hope a less painful time than eating bark.


	35. Chapter Thirty Five

Chatterboxes. That was the only word I thought to describe them. After having to use the restroom a few times, and having cleared out my system, I was given a small portion of food, before they started in on me. Venus took the job of touching up my hair. It was something about the color being so lack luster, so Aphrodite put in the idea of touching up the color. After the highlighting shades of brown had settled in and were washed out a few times, there was something else that was happening. With one hand, she began to mix up a green and started to apply it underneath my top layer of hair.

Octavian on the other hand was taking care of my arms and legs. I felt bad for him, since he had a tougher job. My arms and legs had been banged up pretty bad, and he had started with a concealer that covered up my scars and marks. " They were going to give you surgery and take away all your scars and make you look like your a capitol model. Your parents had a fit, and you wouldn't believe how much your mother threw a fit. " Aphrodite said as she was sorting out the outfits needed things.

He sighed and shook his head as he took up a spot by my right leg and pulled out paints. " I have to admit it. You look much stronger with them, I was just so scared when he went after you with that knife!" He said as he started to paint leaves and what looked to be vine up and down my leg. " I know, I know! I was out getting my hair re done and I was so shocked to see her attacking that handsome Julius." Venus leaned over me and I tell that she was grinning at him. " I bet you that those District One stylists are fuming now that our beautiful Willow won." She said, before going back to tugging on my hair.

" Beautiful?" I asked as I brought my free hand up to my cheek. I had scars, I was rough and tumble, and not the least bit beautiful. Pretty? Maybe on a good day, but not beautiful. All of them gasped. " Of course your beautiful!" Venus said from behind me. " You look timeless." Octavian said as he move his way to my left side. " You have a certain kind of beauty that can't be found anywhere else." Aphrodite told me as she walked over with brushes on her and make up trays in her hands. " And we're going to show the whole nation what your like.." She said as she started on my make up.

For the moments I had to relax, I tried to take advantage of it. With Venus playing with my hair, Octavian running the brush along my leg and arm, and Aphrodite doing my makeup. This would most likely be the base stuff, before I got on my outfit. They had me stand up and there was a brush on me. " It's just a body powder. " The voice, Aphrodite assured me, before telling me to open my eyes. Her white hair was now pulled back and Venus and Octavian were off getting my outfit. It was an alone time for us to talk.

" Willow, listen, I'm sorry for all that happened, and I know that it must hurt. Willa, you need to show the world that your fine. " She said as she reached her hands out and rested them on my shoulders. " Once your done with the interview, you can cry all that you want, I promise you." She told me, before motioning to my arms where the vines were and then up to my hair where the green hair currently waiting to be curled, almost as if . " Willow you'll stand for something strong very soon, but we're starting that now. The hanging tree. The sign of hope." She said softly. "It's a beacon, isn't that how the song goes? Your going to the hanging tree that everyone comes to at midnight." my body went numb at the thought, so I could only respond with nod of my head. " Good, now let's get you ready." She said as she waved back in Venus and Octavian.

My dress this time was vastly different. The front part of it, which was layered in ruffles ended just a bit above my knee. The back was long and flowing, like it would have been if I was wearing a longer dress. Around my waist was a strange belt, one made of rope and tied to look like a hangman's knot, the hanging tree..The odd cut allowed for everyone to see my legs with the vines, which looked pretty real. There was no straps either, it showed off more of my arms. My arms were a bit more toned down and I looked to be muscular. It was a pain to stay still , but I did it as My hair was finished, my make up finished and the last bits of pretty thing put in my hair, but they let me keep my district token. My willow tree necklace.

Venus handed Aphrodite one last thing in a velvet box. " Here is the gift from us, to you." The stylists gathered around me and smiled brightly, before handing it over. I took a breath and opened up the box. Inside was a golden circlet that would come to rest above my eyebrows. I hugged them all tightly and smiled happily. " Thank you all!" I told them with a smile. " It's perfect.." I started and they nodded with a smile. " Let's put it on before you go out!" Venus said, and I handed it over to them. Quickly, they opened it up and clipped it in under neath my hair. When everything was resettled, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like I could be a goddess.

I was just about to thank them again, but Denio came in and interrupted us. " Come on, we need to get you into position." She said as she straightened out her new, brightly red colored outfit. " Alright, I'll see you all out there." I told them as I turned and grinned at them. Denio tapped her foot and I sighed, before heading off with her. We headed out, and we drove a bit in a black car. I was just alone with her and it was painful to say the least bit of it. Finally, we got to the lower level of where I'll go and wait to go for my interview.

Denio left me in the hands off a few servants. It seemed like forever, but I smiled when I heard the door open, and I heard my parents. It was in reality, my mom and dad. They were dressed impeccably and My mom went right for me. I hugged her tightly and she murmured that she was so happy to see me. We pulled apart and I sighed, before smiling again. Mom ran her thumb against my cheek and smiled at me. " Lilo, you'll be okay, I promise." She said as she moved her hand back, sighing. " I am sorry....."

She pulled away and let my dad come and envelope me in a tight hug. " Daddy!" I declared as I felt him hug me tighter. " Lila, your back." He said, but it felt as if it was something to affirm to himself. " Catnip, can we..." Mom got the hint, though she left with a bit of reluctance. " Lila, I knew you could do this. You were amazing out there. I am just....I'm sorry for what you had to go through to get back home.." He trailed as he gave me a look, something similar to a sad puppy dog. " I know what it's like to come back and deal with it all." Dad stood up a bit straighter and took a step back. " Here's the best advice I can give you right now. After the games is hard and it takes a long time to get over what you saw, but you need to find a happy medium."

Happy Medium? I raised an eyebrow and was about to say something, when he cut me off. " Willow, it's important to find something that makes you feel happy and makes your feel like your you again." He said as there was a knock at the door, and a voice telling us it was almost time. " The happy medium that keeps you from falling into a place you don't want to. I only want the best for you and I want you to know that you'll always have us. " He said as he offered his hand and pulled me close to him, wrapping me in a tight hug once more. " We'll all be missing me, don't think your alone." He told me softly, before Mom grabbed his arm. " Lilo, do good out there, and just look at us, okay?" Mom said as they were ushered down the hall.

I was just me as I slowly made my way down the hall. First to be shown would be Denio, then the style teams for both me and newt formly, Next was Aphrodite in what I know would be a stylist outfit, after her would be my parents, then me presented as the winner. Each person would be interview for a bit, before I would come on. It was a few minutes after they had sent up my parents that they set me onto a platform.

We resettled the train of my dress, before I was brought up and plunged into darkness, before being brought into the blinding light and the cheering crowds.


	36. Chapter Thirty Six

The bright lights, I soon got used to, but there cheering was almost deafening. They were cheering for me. I raised a hand up and waved at the crowds. They ate me up happily as I slowly moved my way across the stage. I was met happily by Caesar, who grabbed my hand and spun me around to show everyone my full outfit. I could hear shouting off some males out there. 

" Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce to you the winner of the Ninety Second Hunger Games, Willow Mellark!" He said loudly as he gripped my hand tightly and raised in the air. I looked out among the sea of faces. I caught the eye of my parents, who grinned at me brightly. Next was the eyes of Aphrodite. Her white hair was elegantly waved and she wore a simple black dress. I loved her style and her way of thinking. 

My style team cheered me on as Caesar turned me around and I walked towards the green colored throne, meant for me. With a bit of suggestive wiggle, I tucked my dress train underneath me. I crossed one leg over the other and sat up a bit straighter. I wanted to make them think that I was a powerful temptress. A myth who won on her wit. I tried to block out most of the noise as Caesar told everyone that we would be watching the recap of the games, before the interview. 

The lights dimmed and I settled back to watch the show. 

It started off at the reapings, as always. You had the proud and elegant District One tributes, the district of luxury and it showed in their reaping outfits. It was hard to believe that the image of the proud and whooping Julius was nothing like he was at the end. The was District Two, Masonry but the lap dogs of the capitol. Victoria and Kale wore the grey of normal rocks, and truthfully most of the males looked to be made of stone. Three looked to be not from here, their reaping outfits were speckled with lights and they looked to be grim anywhere that you looked. Four held an air of happiness to it as the sounds of the water could be heard somewhere in the background of the film. Four's tributes were very up and close with each other. Five was lit up to be various different colors and it was a dazzling sight. Compared to District Five, District Six reminded me of the deserted city that I spent so much time in. My breath hitched at District Seven. Lush with greenery, the people seemed to blend right in. No one had gone up for little Mai, who looked to be scared out of her mind until Lee came up beside her and gave her a side hug, before the both of them waved at the cameras. Eight was an array of bizarre colors as a girl had to be practically pulled onto the stage and the boy who had to be carried to the stage from almost fainting. Nine was almost uneventful as was Ten's reaping. 

It was time for Eleven's reaping. I was glad to have some sort of image of Orchid and Rau alive once more. They had been the eldest siblings in a large family. Orchid went up with her shoulders push back, and a determined look on her face. Almost now, I could still hear her voice in my ears. Rau had his chest puffed up as he joined his sister on stage. They were supposed to be a strong force together, and they were, even until death. My eyes started to water as I thought of them and as the feed began to switch to District twelve and my own reaping. 

In all honesty, I looked terrified and distant as I walked onto stage, but you could see everyone's concern. The only real emotion was the shock and fear that reflected on my face as my brother had been called. The tears started to slip out as I heard Newt's voice rang out over the speakers. No. Not this. Anything but this. I didn't want to deal with this now. Quietly, I was handed Caesar's handkerchief and I wiped at my eyes, trying to avoid smudging my make up. Seeing him alive and well and wiling to give up his life for me, hurt my heart. The clips and moments seemed to be cut together to show the audience that we were in love. 

After the reapings came the parade. All the tributes looked stunning in their costumes. From the shiny whites that lead the pack, to the jagged edges of four, to the flowery display in eleven. The cameras held on us the longest. We looked brilliant in the shifting reds,oranges and yellows that our outfits formed. The camera people even managed to catch the small smiles and looks that we had exchanged during the process. 

The training looked to be a deep shock to people. They had showed a few clips of me and Julius together, my arms around him or him standing above me and leaning over my shoulder. I got my angle then. I was the deceiver, I took in Julius with my words and actions, like my father. All the clips that showed off, made it look I was trying to trick him into liking me in the way that Newt loved me. They had muted out our speech, but at the times that they had seen Julius smile or look at me a certain way, there was booing from some where in the crowd. They also showed my gamemakers session. They showed me dashing through the training arena, and hopping up everywhere and anywhere to avoid the trainer that was following after me. In this footage, it showed me as a frog almost as I hopped and avoided him.

The voices returned as they brought up clips of our interviews. Of the playful and adorable ones, like the younger tributes, of the more in depth talk with the "dirtier" ones, and the romantic talk between the interviews with Newt and I. I had the charisma of my father and the easygoingness as well. We had a bouncy sort of conversation going back and forth. Talking us being married and all. Newt's was a bit different. He was a bit guarded, but he had a rhythm going back and forth between them when they talked about me and any thing about me. 

As the screen went dark, I knew what was coming up and I didn't think that I was ready for this. 

It was time for the real fun, The time for the Hunger Games.


	37. Chapter Thirty Seven

That first hour had passed with ease, with only a bit of a prick in the image I wanted to send out. I held the balled up handkerchief in my hand as I leaned against it. 

The game footage started before we had gotten in there. The cameras had been doing turns and covering the whole entire area. The sweeping glances of the shifting deserts, the rustling forests and the broken city. The cameras then settled on us as we had clicked onto our platform. I looked to be scared out of my mind and compared to everyone else, I did not look ready. It showed us breaking from the platforms, before heading head out the Cornucopia. Some went off into the arena, not taking a chance, but there I was. I had run right into the fight, scooping up the quiver and bow along side my backpack. 

There was that girl from Ten, I had given her a hard shove and turned my back on her. The blood spatter I had felt was from a different tribute who pushed the girl out of the way. I forced myself to look at the blood shed that happened at the bloodbath. Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught my reaction in the cameras. Like many that came before me, I looked like I could have been sick. My eyes were wide and owl like as I watched the events unfold. It had turned to that first when I was brought to the careers and I could see home much Julius had been putting on the line for me. 

He had practically argued with Nike and the others to go find me. So they sent Victoria along with him. They captured the happiness that he showed when they found me. Those camera people had an unnatural talent for capturing the smallest moments. After the night was soon turning to day, they managed to show me curling up to Julius in my sleep. 

My next big moment is when I had been caught picking the night lock berries. They focused on my face when I hid my intentions from Julius, and when I had worked on carefully saving myself from sure poisoning when I was working to kill off seven people at once. I looked pretty heartless as I plucking things from their dead bodies and grinning to myself as I settled things done with myself. I also sounded pretty convincing when I shouted for Julius after I was done. The film switch to a few other things with the other tributes, but since I was the star, they switched to when I had dashed back to our camp and met up with Newt there. 

From that point, they tried to tell a bit of a love story between Newt and I. With us talking about our wedding, with a bit of a surprise for me. They showed Julius's slow trip into madness. From not having water and disturbing a few different tracker jacker nests when he wanted food. Julius seemed to be enjoying his madness after the first few times of trying to pull back from it. What was more pitiful, is at times during the night, he would curl up and mumble my name. He was hell bent on finding me and trying to help me. 

With the image of the tempting myth, they showed that I had a heart. The touching moments I had with Orchid and Newt. The moment when I stayed there with Mai when she died, decorating her when she was dying and accepting my job of returning the ring to her partner. I knew I was smiling when I was shown by Lee's camp. I had done Haymitch well when I had flipped her over and faked her out. I pressed my hand to my mouth when I saw Lee attack that girl, breaking her skull with a few good jumps. 

I had to look away when they revealed that Julius had attacked Rau and he had reveled in it. The scream that came from the speakers that was from Orchid was haunting. They showed us all running to meet her and our reactions when we came upon her. They held on our conversation and movements, before the time lasped and it was night, showing what happened to her. She had taken herself out with knife wounds to the chest, letting them bleed out. At least, she died with a smile. They even decided to show my complete break down at Orchid's death in the clearing of the buildings. For once in the games, it looked like I had some real emotions instead of putting on a face to trick the others.

With I shift in my seat, I leaned forward when they showed the feast. It had been as Lee told me. Ten went first, and ended up getting killed by Julius's knife. The other three went out and Julius attacked, it had taken the strength of district five and lee to keep Julius off Newt. In their efforts to protect Newt, they had shoved him too hard and Newt fell with a sicking crack. Julius had also gotten Lee in the side with his knife as they got away. His ending blow. My heart stung a bit at the though of another person I had be-friend, died.

Things were again a bit uneventful as they led up to us leaving our base and heading out to what should have been our ends. There were our tender moments as we waited out when our next attack would be. Things heated up when they showed District Five's attack on us, and Newt and I's combined effort to kill him in the moon light. Everyone, including me, was on the edge of their seats as they showed me getting up early and heading out to hunt. My worse decision that I had made in the games. On top of that, they also showed my in-decisive moments where I had wanted to go back to newt, but I hadn't. 

The footage was cut to when I had returned to the Cornucopia and what I had witnessed. Julius sneaking up on Newt and ultimately being his killer. They must of had fun trying to portray me as starting to break from listening to Newt die. What deeply disturbed me is when Julius started to laugh as he licked his knife clean. From the noises in the crowd, I could tell that I wasn't the only one. The end was a real shocker to me about how calm and collected that I looked. On the inside, I had felt like a war was going on inside of me, but on the outside was different. I was the cool and collect tempter, who walked slowly up the Julius and tricked him into thinking that I was happy. It disturbed me to hear how happy everyone was when I started to strangle Julius. 

I looked like a dream brought to life then. I was shown to be stronger than what I looked, and I was the amazon that everyone was calling me. The last cannon rang out and I was announced as the victor. Everyone was spell bound as the lights went up and they all looked at me with a shocked look.

" Well that is some truly riveting stuff folks, Now Willow how are you feeling?" He asked as he turned to me. I took in a breath and smiled, " Well Caesar, I'm elated. I got to come back home to my family." I said as I leaned back, " and I got to return to you and all you lovely people!" I motioned to him and then the crowd beside us. 

" Willow, we're glad to have you back. I'm sure that the burning question that everyone has is what you thought when you saw Newt die?" He asked as he leaned over and placed his hand on top of mine in a comforting gesture. My breath caught in my throat, before I pushed myself to speak. " I was broken. My husband was gone and I just couldn't think what I would do with out him." I said as I had to push the words out of me, before giving a sad smile for the crowds. They awed and I heard them mourn Newt's passing.

I was sort of grateful for the support that I was given in the moment. He nods in agreement and starts again. " Yes, it was a truly sad sight to see. He will be missed, I just know it. Now, Julius, what made you go to him?" He asked. I wiped my face with the cloth and sighed slightly, " He was good person to team up with. Stubborn and Strong Willed, he was the best option besides my husband of course." I leaned in a bit and forced a smile. " So I did what I had to do, it was quite easy to do it too." I said, before leaning back in my chair.

He asked me a few more questions before the President was announced. The questions were just more of my feelings and all, and I had to admit, I made it through very nicely with out breaking down. I braced myself as I stood up for the President to present me with my crown. It was all to hard to believe as He took the crown from the little girl walking behind him. Once it was settled on my head, I felt a chill run down my spine as he stared daggers into me. We stood for once last time in front of the cheering crowds. 

After the show had ended, I was ushered off and I was settled back in with Denio, but this time I was with my parents and style team. My parents took either side of me, and I just laid my head against my mom's shoulder. " Just the dinner, and then you can rest, I promise." She said softly, running her hand through my curls. " You can do it....You did great out there." Dad assured me as he wrapped his arm around mom and me. It was comforting to have my family there with me, but I just wanted Newt to be with me now.

The dinner was held at the President's mansion and there were plenty of people there to greet me. From sponsors, to those just lucky enough to be invited. People gave me condolences for the proper protocol for when someone's romantic partner. I thanked the sponsors that came up to me, and I posed for many different sorts of pictures with them. I barely ate because I was just swarmed by people. After the third course of desert, it was time for us to head back. I was all to grateful to get out of the dress and settle back in for some well needed sleep. 

The ride was quiet, but it was just my parents and I, since Denio had headed back on her own. We rode the elevator, I looked out over the colorful capitol, only wishing that I could some how make Newt's death mean something more than what it was made out to be. It took the help of a servant to get back to room since I was just so worn out. The shower was welcoming as was the change of clothes. After I pulled on the soft night dress, instead of going to sleep, I decided to head upstairs. 

I don't know what came over me, but I just wanted to relieve a happy time. As I entered the rooftop garden, I let a sense of serenity pass over me. My first kiss was in the face of death. I wanted to try and reflect and make peace with myself . I really did love him, and I realized way to late that I wanted to be with him more than anything in the world. Tying back my damp hair, I made my way to the ledge. People danced the night away, and I just watched. I must have been there for a bit, because I hadn't really notice or heard the door open behind me. 

" What are you doing up here, Lila?" I heard the voice ask. It was mom." I don't know.....I just....I don't feel right.." I said as I pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them. " It's because of him isn't it?" She asked as she came up and sat down beside me. " I just don't think I could ever love someone like that ever again."I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. It was quiet, but then I felt my mother's arms around me. 

Mom has never been one for over affection, but she knew when to give hugs and other sort of things at the right time. " And that's okay. If you find someone else, you wont love the same way you love Newt and they wont love you in the way he loved you. People are different, and that's important. But for now, it might be best to focus on you, okay?" She said as she moved my face so I looked at her. I nodded and smiled slightly, before giving her a hug in return. " Okay Mom, I love you.." I said softly as I rested my head on her shoulder for a brief second. 

She pulled away and stood up, offering her hand to me. " Come on, you definitely need your sleep." She said as she pulled me to my feet. I went with her willingly and we were in a comforting quiet as we walked. 

At my door, she leaned in and kissed my forehead and cupped my cheek. " We love you, don't forget that." She said softly. before heading back down the hall. Slowly, I made my way into my room and settled down onto the bed. As soon as my back hit the mattress, I fell in to a deep sleep. Hoping, just hoping it will be all different when I wake up.


	38. Chapter Thirty Eight

To my own bit of disappointment, it was not different when I woke up. I still felt sad and numb at the fact that I was alone and still in the capitol. There was the largest part of me that wanted Newt to be there when I woke up. I wanted him there to brush back my hair and smile at me, telling me that he loved me so much. I sighed.I didn't even want to go back to the arena, I just wanted to go back home. Once home, I would have my own home in the Victor's Village, though I would still be with My family. The light was dim in my room as I woke up and I heard foot falls around me. When I fully opened my eyes, I saw that an outfit was being rolled in. 

It was a plain green dress, and there was a simple belt around the waist. It was different than the other things I wore, it was strange to see. A servant came over, the same boy who was there when I first woke up after the arena. He gently placed a hand on my shoulder and made sure that I up and I was alright. I nodded at him, and yawned softly, before wiping at my face. My door opened and in walked Aphrodite. Her slivery hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail as she cared a bag and a clipboard,looking to being dealing with about ten different things at once.

" Up, Up! Time to get up, we need to get you prepare to go home." She said as she rounded the side of my bed and sat down. I groaned and flopped back, " nooooo." I whined as I covered my head with my blanket. I wanted to go back to sleep and just sleep for a long time. Besides, how could anyone be this cheerful in the morning, but this was the capitol where everything was given to you, and you didn't have to worry about a thing. She pried the blanket from my hands and gave me a look. A look that said, if you do not get up right now I will make you pay." Come on, I want to make this last appearance special." Aphrodite waved her hand and a tray was brought to me. " Besides, this will be the last time I'll see you before the Victory Tour." She said as she motioned for me to start eating. " Really?" I asked her with a mouthful of food. 

She nodded and laughed quietly. " Yes, but don't worry, when we go on the tour, everyone will be there." She said as she patted my leg, " now eat up!" She said as got up and went to get the rest of the things ready for me. I didn't realize how hungry I was, until I had finished the whole tray. The rich food was a nice perk with having to deal with everyone here. They allowed me a bit of time for the food to settle, but I was then up and off again. 

Swept off in a whirl of things, I took the time to think and observe. Since I was standing, waiting to be handed the outfit I wore, I was mostly looking at Aphrodite. She wasn't beautiful, but she was gracious and wise beyond her years. With the way she acted, she was more beautiful than anyone here in the Capitol. As I was handed the outfit, I heard Octavian and Venus coming into the room. They didn't have anything with them, and they didn't look like themselves. They looked like you were going to the death of someone, in a bizarre way. Venus was now a light blue, and she wore a dark pink dress. Octavian was dressed in a similar dark pink, but they both had rope bracelets on. Aphrodite went to them, as I was told to get dressed. 

My outfit was pretty simple. It was a dark green dress that reached my knees, but I wore a set of nature patterned tights underneath. It was much simpler than the other things I've worn. " Willa, are you done?" I heard Octavian asked from outside my door. I smiled and sighed, smoothing down my dress before walking out. They all gasped and clapped their hands. " Oh my, you look just darling!" Venus said as I smiled at her. Both Octavian and Venus must have been feeling a bit darker than normal. " We really wanted to be here to see you off. " He said as he caught my look. I let out a relieved sigh, before nodding and going up and hugging them tightly. " Oh, I'm gonna miss you guys so much." I said as I gave them both a tight hug. 

Aphrodite just sighed at our scene, and I pulled her into the group hug as well. When it got to hard for all of us to breath, we all pulled away and Aphrodite wiped at her eyes," Oh come on, we need to get her ready for her last time on tv for a while." She said as she motioned for them to join her at the makeup counter. I wore their headpiece for good luck and they had put very little makeup on me. " The Victory Tour will be fun, I just know it, and when we see you again, I know it will be different okay?" Venus told me as her and Octavian were leaving. I only nodded and hoped that those words would be true. As we were getting ready to leave to the interview, Aphrodite stood in front of me. " You'll do great, and when you get back home, you'll have all the time you need to yourself." She paused and pulled something out of her jacket. " One last thing.." What she had pulled out was a rope bracelet, one a lot like the belt I wore yesterday. It was the same ones that Venus and Octavian were wearing and I caught the sight of Aphrodite's peeking out from the sleeve of her jacket. " It was my idea." She said as she fastened it tightly around my wrist, and turning it so I could see the tree pattern woven in to it. " Make me proud hanging tree." She murmured as she pulled away and looked me in the eyes. 

" Make me proud."

With that, I was whisked away by Denio. I was brought into a room that was decorated with a few various plants. The plants varied in color and size, and set me at ease a bit when I inhaled their sweet smell. My last interview was less heavy handed than my last one. We bantered back and forth about what I would do when I return and what I would miss when I left the capitol. Stuff that they would be interested in hearing from me.

" All the lovely people I've met, You, My stylist team ,and the amazing people who supported me through out the games." I said with an internally painful smile. He laughed and clapped his hands, " I know we will all miss you, but do not worry folks. Your Victor will not be far from you when she goes on her Victory Tour, Right?" I nodded and grinned as He leaned in. " With the amazing work that your stylist has done before, could you maybe divulge any secrets about the outfits?" He asked as he rested his chin on his head. " Oh Caesar, you know I can't tell you all, that would be giving away a secret." I said with a laugh as I leaned back a bit,continually going on with him until the timer ran out and he bid me a goodbye.

I was happy when it ended and I was ushered with my parents to the train that would take me back home. We traveled for most of the day, but we stopped somewhere in the middle of a district at a lone station and we were allowed off while they refueled the train. I took the chance to go out into the fields where I picked a handful after handful of wild flowers. When the train whistle blew, I hurried back on to the train and hid in my room. At a young age, I was taught by one of the older girls in school how to make flower chains. By dinner time, I had four crowns made. One I wore in place of the golden circlet, which now rested on my neck. Two were set aside for my parents, and the last one I kept safe for our final destination. 

We ate a heavy meal, and I presented them with their gifts. They were quiet, but excepted them with happiness in their faces. The flowers were wild onions, but I hadn't realized it when I was picking them. Few words were exchanged, before we all headed off to our own rooms. I hadn't slept, so I was up, staring at the scenery passing us. 

When dawn came, I was still by my window ,but I had fallen asleep. It seemed I was the first one up ,because after my shower, I was the only one in the breakfast car for a while. The next to come out was Dad, and he leaned over and kissed my head, telling me that we were a few minutes from home. 

Home. The word sounded a bit odd to me.

A place I hadn't seen in a while. It would all be different when I got back. No one would look at me the same. At least no one would try to mess with me anymore. People would also fear me, from what I did to those people, some would never forgive the actions that I did. The people that I was dreading seeing the most were Newt's family. I just hoped that they would try to understand why I had to do what I did. Mom came out soon after, going straight for the coffee. It was an unspoken rule that mom would need her coffee to wake up on some of the not so good days. They talked between themselves, before the train came to a full stop. I got up and followed them when they left the car and the train all together. We were home. The dingy train station was crowded with so many people and cameras. In front were Al,Newt's family, Rye, and Haymitch. 

As I stepped out onto the platform, I was met with my brother yelling my name and running towards me. I caught him and enveloped him in a tight hug. " Your home!" He cried into my chest and I let out a sigh of relief, before nodding. " Yeah, I'm home." I said. I was home, and with everyone who loved me. Our parents joined us in the hug in front of the cameras and everyone else. 

When we all pulled away, a fair amount of happy tears had been shed. " Come on Willow, let's go home." Rye said as he grabbed my hand tightly, already pulling me off the platform. I paused and pulled out the crown. " Here, I made this for you." I told him with a smile, leaning down a bit and looking him in the eyes. He touched the crown and smiled at me. " made for me?" He asked, he looked to be shocked and touched at the gesture. " All for you Rye." I said, and he had a renewed energy with which he pulled me with.

With that, I couldn't have been more excited to go home, with my family around me. So I followed him with everyone else in tow. I couldn't wait to get back to see my home and everything I left behind. As we headed through the market place, I saw Newt's family head back to their own home. I broke my hand free from Rye's and jogged over to them. His siblings were like my own, and his mother enjoyed having me over when he was still alive. They stopped and his sisters looked to be star stuck when they saw me. I stood up straight and looked at his mom. " I'm so sorry..." I started, before she quietly pulled me into a hug and I could feel her shaking. " Don't be..He would have wanted you to win." She said as she held onto me tight. 

"Willow, you've always been like family to us. When you got reaped, we couldn't believe it. We were prepared to mourn your loss along side of the reaped male. It was his own choice to go up and take your brother's place. He loved you enough to risk himself and his life to protect you from what would have happened. Oh how I wished that those lies were true. How I would have wished that you two could have been happily married with a life of your own, but I know that it would be just wishful thinking. But your home, and you helped him the best you could. That was the best you could have done for him." She said as she tilted my chin up, and looked me in the eyes. " Love makes you do some crazy things, and you know that, don't you?" She asked. 

I nodded softly, and she sighed, tilting her head at me. " He'd want to you be happy. Newt wouldn't want to see you sad. He would tell me how much he loved your smile and your laugh. Don't let that fade Willow, please. It gets better, I know it does..." She said, before the girls began to tug on her pant legs " Sweetie, we've got to go, but your always welcomed." With that, She picked up the youngest and head off. 

I was left there, stunned and quiet, before I felt the tugging on my hand, and felt myself being tugged along to home, not letting myself feel much, until I went to sleep. When in the privacy of my own room, I let my tears out not only for Newt, but for those who I lost along side of him, letting this be the last thing I felt.


	39. Chapter Thirty Nine

Going back to a normal routine was hard. My pillow was damp and it was cold. That must have been because I had kicked my blankets off in the middle of the night. The sunlight filtered through the curtains and I heard the sounds of my family downstairs. Everything had to go back to normal. I knew it did. I tugged the blanket up over my cold legs and rolled onto my side, staring at my wall. Of course, it was sort of an unspoken thing that a victor needed a day to collect themselves, before showing themselves to the public.

No one came up to check on me, and that was fine by me. Spending time alone seemed to be a blessing now. Laying in bed didn't seem suit my mind set right now so I, with a struggle, pulled myself up from the bed. I didn't care to change, so I went to the curtained off window. The curtains were still drawn from the day I had left. My windows would have been closed and so would have been the door to my room. If I didn't come back, everything would have been locked off after they would have buried me. 

Dust collected and shimmered in the sunlight as I opened up the curtains. The sun was up and the last of the workers were off. Rye was heading through the gates with his pack on him. I could only wish that he would never have to go through what I did. Leaning against the window sill, I sighed and closed my eyes. It was a hard pill to swallow, but I would have to try and move on, but not today. Today would be a day to wallow in my emotions. I pushed myself from the window, and went back into the room. I occupied my mind with getting dressed and cleaning myself. After I had seemed to scrub myself down for the third time, just to feel clean, I turned and went to my drawing table. 

For most of the morning, I was at my table. I had been hunched over and sketching away with different sorts of pencils. It was lunch time when I straightened up and felt my back crack in a satisfying way. My stomach had been rumbling for the past half an hour, so I thought it might have been good to head down to get something. I looked at the drawing, I had been drawing Newt, and it looked like it could come to life. Sighing, I folded it up a bit, before taking it with me downstairs.

Downstairs was much brighter and I could heat humming coming from the kitchen. Mom must have been out hunting, because it was Dad. He was wearing his apron and he was working on something on the counter. He should have been at the bakery, but my own guess was that he was here to make sure that I was okay. I set the drawing down and headed into the kitchen, making myself something to eat. 

Dad looked at me briefly, before walking over to the table to see what I had put down. As I came back with my sandwich, Dad was at the closet and pulling out a box from the top shelf. I sat down at the table, and he set the box beside me, before kissing my head. " Thought your picture could use some color..." He said as he went to back to the kitchen. His humming kept me company as I opened up the box. It held Dad's watercolors. The ones he used on the most special pictures. I smiled and I got myself prepared, before I started to paint. I was better with a pencil or something like that, but not with watercolor. My hand was a bit unsteady, but I did it. 

By the time Mom and Rye had returned, I was done with my painting. I had painted it to look like Newt was still alive, like he was in my heart. I was about to go upstairs to be by myself, before I was told to stay downstairs. " Willow, we're going to have family over to celebrate." Rye said as he came up on the side of me. " Please stay?" He asked, and I just nodded. Anything to make him happy. 

I cleaned up my area, and cleaned myself up as I heard people start come in. As I smoothed out one of my nicer shirts, I could pick out the voices of a few of my own friends and other people. I went downstairs and there was a bit of food set out and people talking. Not feeling completely up to conversing, I settled into the corner and looked at everyone. 

They were talking about me. How brave I was,How I was strong in the face of those enemies. The only other quiet one was Haymitch, who had settled in with a bottle of spirits. It wasn't the normal golden or red, but it was clear. It was either special or he needed more to deal with people tonight. I should have felt pride and happiness at having everyone here for me, but I felt nothing. It was the same as it had been since he died. Could I ever feel again? Or will I be stuck with numbness all my life? 

The thoughts were too much for me, so I got up. I tip toed out of the room, pass everyone and to the back door. After opening it slowly, as to not cause alarm with any one inside. I slipped out and settled down onto the back steps. The night was clear and the moon gave me a nice view of our back yard. It would have been much nicer if there wasn't a brick wall in the distance from the end our back yard. We had flowers lining the edges and there was just a scattering of the things that Rye and I used to entertain us in the summer or off days from school.

The door behind me creaked to life as I heard someone come out. I turned and saw that it was just my godfather. He held two glasses and he sat down beside me. We said nothing, it was a sort of silent understanding between us that we both needed to get away from people. He offered me the second glass with a raised eyebrow. I accepted his offer and help the glass in my hand. It had the strong smell of distilled spirits, but it smelled oddly comforting. It was the same smell that would fill my nose when ever I entered his home. 

I sighed and took a sip of the drink. It burned as it went down my throat, but it was the first thing I felt that wasn't sadness. As I pulled the glass away, he wrapped an arm around me and told me something I wouldn't forget. 

" Welcome to Hell kid."


	40. Chapter Forty

The months passed with a sort of melancholy for me. I went back to school, and I was back with my friends. Al tried to comfort me on the worst days, but it was Newt's sisters that were able to make the darkness go away. I spent a lot of time with my godfather for the longest time. He shared his alcohol with me in private, and he was the one who understood me the most. 

The half way point was here, and I was rudely awoken with the sound of my brother and Denio arguing outside of my door. Rye was telling her that she couldn't wake me up, because I wasn't feeling well. Bless his sweet soul. He was the best brother a girl could ask for. It seemed like Denio had won the argument, because I heard her bare into my room. " Up, Up, you have to get ready, you have a big trip a head of you." She said as she walked to the one side of my bed. I gave her a look, before slinging the blankets off myself. 

She stayed in the room as I was looking for something to wear for the train ride, before I would be put into many different outfits. " We have everything planned out for you don't worry, you'll get just read from the cards, and you'll have no problems. Just don't make a fool of your at the different dinners." She said as I pulled on my jacket and shoes. I gave her a look, before shaking my head. " I know how to act at a meal. " I said, before I stood. " Give me a minute okay?" I told her, before heading out to my brother, who had his cheeks puffed up. 

I crouched to his level and looked him in the eyes. " I'll be okay, I promise. I'm just going around to see the different districts. " He looked unconvinced. " Listen, if you wont worry about me, I promise I'll bring back something from each district, okay?" He perked up and nodded. " I love you." I said as he gave me a tight hug. We were broken apart on Denio and Our parents request. We headed out and I bid goodbye to those who came to see me off. 

When I was inside the train, I was greeted by the happy words of Octavian, Venus and Aphrodite. They were all wearing our matching bracelets, and they seemed to be happy to see me again. " Ahh, look at you! You've grown so much, and look at those eyes!" Venus crooned as she held my head in her hands. " And you've changed in just a few months." Octavian chimed in as he gave me a smile. I pushed a smile, and I was ushered back into a spacious car. 

This was the first of many different times I would have gone through this. District Eleven was the first stop of many. I wore a flower print dress along side of a simple floral head band. I was dreading this first stop, but I had to push through it. I was greeted with a bit of warmth from the district. I read from the cards and I tried to be honest with the fact that I was sorry that they died in that fashion. I hated the looks that I had gotten from their family as I looked at their photos. 

I saved one of the flowers I had been given and pressed it, before we were whisked off after the meal. It happened over an over again. In different sorts of clothes at different times. More notable outfits were District Eight, I was in a short yellow dress with a black jacket and gloves. I looked like I fit right in with the dreary looking denizens of the district. District Six, I was in an oversized sweater, a dark pair of pants and a hat on my head. Aphrodite told me that it was to be seen as more relatable to the people. She was right, everyone seemed to be more relaxed seeing me looking normal inside of like a doll. In District Three, it was colder, so I was in a thickly lined red dress and a pair of heels that I almost fell in. 

Approaching District One, I was terrified. I would be coming to Julius's home, and I don't know if they would be too glad to see the girl who brutally murdered one of their children. Then again, they were the lap dogs, and they had to be good. Octavian helped me pull on the sweater dress I was to wear to public speech. " Are you ready for this Lilo?" He asked as he pulled my hair our of the dress. My style team had grown to call me a whole plethora of names in private. They had also been great in my conquest to gather one thing from each district for my brother. " I've got to be Octavian, it's part of my duties as a victor, and then soon enough it'll be over." I said as I straightened out the sleeves and neck, before getting handed my shoes. Heeled boots with a bit of studs on the toes. 

As I tugged them on, I looked at him. " Really?" I asked as I zipped them up. " Of course, Luli, it was my idea." Venus said as she brought over the jewelry I would wear. This close to the capitol, I dared not to wear my rope bracelet to have any rumors go flying about. I clipped in the earrings and slipped on the rings, while She helped put on my necklace. " Why shoes like this?" I asked as they were putting up my hair. " I thought they would look very darling on you. Sexy but with a bit of rebel to them." She informed me as she braided back my hair. 

I nodded, and I just shook my head. " We have to get you out there." He said, before She nodded in response. We headed out and we met Aphrodite at the doors. She handed over the cards and gave me a small pat. " Good luck Li." With that, I was out on stage with a whole crowd in front of me. The sun was slowly going down, and The lights were going up as the images of Julius and Nike were shown. 

I pushed down a lump of fear as I sorted out the cards. Their families gathered by their images and I sucked in air. Nike's family was just a young woman who looked a lot like her, and Julius' family consisted of two brothers and a young sister. I grasped the cards tightly and began to speak."And here I stand before you, dumbfounded and surprised.Julius and Nike were courageous. But yet, there was only one winner. I give you my sympathies, but that's all I can give you. We all lost people in the games, friends, family, loved ones. But they on in us until we see them again. Julius and Nike were courageous and they will never be forgotten." I said as I stood up and met the eyes of everyone in the crowd. " They went in the most honorable way possible. They died the Games, but they showed the strength and courage that your district posses." I told them, before they all broke into a loud applause. I was getting better each and every time. 

As the applause ended, I was ushered off stage and I was fixed up for the dinner. At the dinner, it was a different story. Each time I caught the eye of one of their family members, it felt like they wanted to kill me. Before they would even have the chance to, the night ended and it was time for the last stop. The capitol dinner. 

Dressed in pure white, I was presented along side my parents by the president. Everyone still went crazy for me, and those lucky enough to attend the dinner that night, took the chance to talk to me. People gorged themselves and then made it all come back in with a complete joy, and then there was me. 

I had found a corner to myself and I stayed there as flashes of yelling and dying came over me. The attacks had gotten worse from everyone around me. As I sat with my head in my hands and my body curled up, I started to know what kinda of hell I was getting into.


	41. Epilogue

After that year, I had moved on, but in my own way. I would never be the same again, and I came to terms with that. I had grown, and I had found my own happy medium. My happy medium was baking. I was in the bakery more than dad was these days, and I had all but taken over from him It offered me peace, and allowed me to make things for people that would allow them to be happy. I still even kept in contact with my former style team when it was possible.

Everyone had grown. Including my brother. He went from a chubby cheeked boy, to a handsome young man who was loved by those around him. He had come to me one day, and gave me a surprise. 

I was in my kitchen, as it was normal for me. In my home in the village, I had an open door thing, so I had many people come and go to see me. Rye came in, as cheerful as ever, and leaned on my counter. I still couldn't believe that he had grown taller than me, and that he was so similar to our father. " Willow, I have great news!" He said as I was shaping the dough for one of the many loaves I would take in today. " What? Did the squirrels finally stop eating your flowers?" I asked as a grin passed over my face. He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. " No, I'm getting married!" He said in a tone that meant I should have known this. Truthfully I hadn't because, I didn't really concern myself on his love life. " To who?" I asked as I placed the dough on the tray and slid it into the hot oven. " To Newt's sister Kaile." My stomach dropped. 

My brother would be marrying Newt's second youngest sister. He was still a bit of a sore topic for me, even after all these years, and I knew that he wasn't doing it on purpose. I heard rumors from His elder sister, but I wasn't sure if it was true. " Will you come, Willow these means a lot to me and I really want you to be there along side of me." He said as I gripped onto the counter. I took in a deep breath, and steadied myself. " Rye, I'll make the cake for you. I just don't know if I'll be there, okay?" I informed him, trying not to fall in on myself. He paused and looked at me, before nodded. " Okay, I can't wait." He said as he turned and walked out. 

For the next few days, I busied myself with making the cake. I made it with love, and care, knowing it was for my brother on his special day I felt a twang of jealously as I frosted his cake. This should be my special time when I would get married to Newt. I pushed the feeling down as I finished the base frosting, and started on the accents to it. 

The morning came with a great anticipation, and I had one of the employees help me take the cake to our old home. Everyone was seated outside, and waiting for the small ceremony. The couple had gone to the justice building to sign the papers this morning, but the ceremony would take place in the later hours of the day. Rye met me in the kitchen and smiled brightly at me. " You made it." He said as he hugged me tightly. " I wouldn't have missed it for the world." I told him quietly as I hugged back. " Come on, I saved a seat for you." He said, before pulling me out into the back yard. A hodge podge of various kinds of chairs were set up for everyone here. It was a small group put it was nice. 

I sat beside my godfather and gave him a brief smile, before Rye settled himself at the end of the aisle. There was a few minutes of quiet, before the lovely bride was brought out by her mother. She wore a faded looking dress and she looked over joyed to be here. The bride was given away by her mother and everyone was elated to see the couple kiss. He carried her across the threshold of the house, as we all sung the traditional wedding song. I felt a longing in my chest as I watched them. If I had anything my way, I would want to be in their place now. I was nudged out of the chair by my parents as we headed inside to toast to the couple. 

I didn't want to stay, so I just made an excuse to the couple that I wasn't feeling well, so I was going to return to my home to rest. Once I was home, I let myself collapse and fall back into a place I didn't want to be. 

The only time I got out of that funk was nine months later. I should have figured that they would have been up to something that night. A couple in love like that was going to be doing that a lot after just being married. Kalie had told me on one of her weekly trips to the bakery to buy bread. I was glad for them, and I actually couldn't wait for the arrival, I just wasn't expecting it in the middle of the night. Celene barged right into my house, and found me asleep on my couch. She shook me awake and told me that my niece was going to be born in only a matter of a few moments. 

I blindly got myself dressed in the dark, before dashing off to the healers. We didn't have a hospital like some districts, but our healer was just as good as any doctor they had. The sun was just rising as I made my way through the back door of the healer's home. Rye was there beside his wife, who was cradling a little pink bundle. She was singing to the fussy child, and then she looked up at me. " Willow! You made it!" She said happily, " Do you want to hold her?" She asked as she offered the bundle to me. Slowly, I nodded and moved forward. I stood beside the bed and held the bundle in my arms. A little baby girl with a head full of blonde hair. " What's her name?" I asked as I rocked her. " Lilo, after her aunt." Rye answered as I looked at him, on the verge of tears. The baby opened her eyes a bit and smiled at me. 

And in that moment, I knew that everything was going to be okay.


	42. Chapter 42

When I had awoke that morning, I didn't find her. I had figured that she went out hunting when I found that her pack, bow and arrows were gone as well. It wasn't that I didn't mind her going out hunting, it was just that we were so close to the end, that I wanted to keep her by me. 

I settled my back on the curved wall of the cornucopia and thought. It was the only thing that I could do.Being stuck here, watching people die and waiting out my own time to die gave me a lot of time to think. At this point, I wanted to win, but I didn't want to hurt her. If dying meant , that I didn't have to kill her, then I was going to be fine with that. I tried to stretch my arms, but I was met with the same familiar pain that had accompanied me since the feast. It was hard thing not to miss, it was a stark white against my clothes and it was heavier than my pack, so most of the time, it hung limply at my side. 

It was all because of that asshole. Julius had gone off the deep end, and decided that the best way to deal with his problems was to attack. His attack is what lead to Lee's end and my broken arm. I only wished I could find him to make him pay. I made my way out of the cornucopia and cracked my neck and back. The sun was up high and I had set out to clean out my cast and clean myself up. Last night's attack was a surprise, and it had left me a bit messier than normal. I poured out a bit of water onto the designated cleaning cloth and began to clean up my arms and cast. 

I heard a bit noise behind me, but I chose to ignore it. After a bit of hard scrubbing, I felt something lodge into my shoulder. My whole body stun and I grunted, falling forward. In an instant, I was on the ground, but flipped on to my back. The thing that was on top of me was the shell that was once Julius. His fingers clenched around my throat as I struggled to keep air flowing through my system. I hoped that Willow wouldn't be here to see this. 

He pulled out another knife and grinned at me. " You should be thanking me kid, now Willow wont have to deal with a loser like you." He said into my ear as I felt his grip loosen a bit, but it moved down to the base of my neck. He raised the knife above him, aimed right at my throat. I closed my eyes, silently wishing my family and willow the best as I felt the splitting pain in my neck and went into the darkness that started in close me with calmness, hoping that Willow would win in the end.


	43. Chapter 43

The announcement had been a shock when it was revealed. There would be two winners as long as they were from the same district. We were the only ones left from the same district, and that's what drove us to hard to win. Of course it hurt when Lee had died, but we were just one step closer to home. The attack from District Five set us on edge, so we decided that no matter what, we would not leave each other's side.

In the free moments, we talked about our plans when we got back home to District Twelve. The last attack was scarier than I pictured it. Julius had started to attack Newt's hurt arm, but it was good that I was there with my bow and arrows at the ready. It took all my arrows, but the monster was good and dead. We were announced as the winners, and we heard how much everyone loved us together. Newt was hurt so bad in his arm, that I had to hold him up when the latter was dropped for us to leave this hellish place.

They took him away from me, and they started on work on his arm. I was at the window and shaking at the sight of his arm. It was broken more than before and his skin was a bit green tinged. They had to pull me away from him, and they even had to forcefully restrain me so I wouldn't go off to see him. Doctors worked on me, and I fell asleep from the medication that they had given me so they could work on my properly. When I woke up, I was given light food and I was told that I would be prepared for the post arena interview.

I was made to be the hanging tree, and I was given no information on Newt's condition. It was practically killing me as I was settled on to my platform. When I was lifted up, I looked around and to my own delight, I found Newt by my side. Even in my heels, I ran to him and hugged him tightly. " Oh god, I missed you." I told him as I pressed my face into his chest. " I missed you too sweetie." He said as he placed his hand on my back and dipped me back a bit, before kissing me on the lips. I could hear the crowds going wild, so I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into me. After only a minute or two, we pulled away and greeted Caesar with a smile.

They told a love story from the moment the video started. From our reaping, to the training , and even in the arena when we stayed close with each other. They highlighted the sweet moments we shared during the time in the arena when we talked about being married and how much in love we were. Having Newt to support me was nice, but when the lights went up, I noticed that his arm wasn't the same. He wasn't in a cast, but his hand wasn't his own, but it was a metal. My shock must have concerned Caesar because he asked me if I had known, and I told him the truth. No one had told me that when I had patched him up, let him get an infection that would have almost killed him.

I was given comfort from the crowd and everyone around around me as we were then presented with our victor's crowns. Well it started as one, but was split into two crowns, and I stood under the dagger like gaze of the president.

After all of the activities, and we were back on the train. I knew that I could get through all of this if I had him by my side.


	44. Chapter 44

The games took a toll on us both. You could tell it by the stoop in Newt's shoulders or the lines around my eyes, but we had each other. Newt moved his family into the Victor's Village, and I had a house to myself. It felt nice to see that the Village was turning into our own kinda home. After we had gotten home and we had time to settle out what we really felt, He went straight to my parents and godfather to ask for my hand in marriage...for real. My parents gave their blessings, but Haymitch gave him a run for his money. 

He had to really make sure this boy was going to be right for his goddaughter. It was either that or he was having fun in making him do things for him. After a while of Newt's persistence, He had finally given his blessing and things commenced. We had gone to the Justice Building with our parents and signed the papers for a marriage license that the clerks were all to happy to give to us. I wore Newt's mom's nicest dress and Dad loaned Newt one of his shirts and ties to look formal for the event. 

Everything took place in the back yard of our new home, and we followed the proper tradition. They sung the wedding song, we made a fire and toast a loaf of bread to a happy marriage, before sharing the bread with our families. Along some game Mom had hunted, we had a cake made by Rye and Dad to share. That night, we had an odd, but fun time in our bedroom. 

We were known as they married tributes or a plethora of other names. It was on our year anniversary that I found that I was going to have a child. It was a deep shock to everyone, and It took me and my mother to hold Dad back from freaking out. After the initial shock, everyone was excited and happy for us. I was terrified, but at the same time, when I would be up at night and I could feel the baby move within me, I was excited. 

I gave birth to a little boy, who we named Orchid in honor of our fallen friend. She was a tiny little thing with my dark hair and blue-grey eyes, a mix of us both. She was loved by all of her family, spoiled by her grandparents and adored by her uncle. Orchid was four, and It was five years after we had been married, I found out that I was pregnant again. This time, I had a little boy. He was named Rau Lee, and he had blonde hair like his father and grey eyes like his grandmother.

We were happy to have our little family, and They helped us to rebuild after what had happened, and we were grateful for it, loving our kids no matter what.


	45. Chapter 45

Reaping day. It was an odd sort of sense. It happened every year, and yet this one I was dreading. Celene and Kalie would be too young to get reaped, and Isabelle had just passed the age. It was just me this year. I had woke up early to get a warm shower, before my sisters would have taken the bath room over. 

District Twelve's had a total of four victors in it's history. One's dead, One is a drunk and two are my best friend's parents. Willow and I had two years left, and her brother had five years. I pulled on my nicest looking shirt with the least dirty pants I could find. My sisters were up and they were getting ready. Mom was quiet as she helped them get ready. She was scared, and I could understand why. " Come on, we need to get there on time." She said as she was herding us all together out of the door. 

I didn't fight back as we made our way through the town and to the center square. I caught sight of Willow and Newt coming down from the Victor's village. She smiled at me, and I felt my heart flutter, she was perfect. Her and her brother approached me. We greeted each other and the music sounded. She waved us off as Rye and I headed off into the boys section. Rye was like a younger brother to me, and I wouldn't leave him alone in this. 

Denio came out, and We both rolled our eyes at how stupid she looked. The Mayor made his speech, and Rye held onto me tightly as Denio went to the female's bowl first. She pulled out the paper and read off the name. " Willow Mellark." No, this couldn't be happening. Rye held onto my tightly as he pressed his face into my chest. He was broken over this. He was close to his sister, and having her go into the games must be a nightmare for him.

Denio went over to the male bowl and pulled out the second name. " Rye Mellark." She said into the microphone. Everyone gasped and Rye pulled away from me. I wouldn't let this happen, I couldn't. " I volunteer as tribute!" I shouted as I made my way the aisle. " I volunteer as tribute. " I told them, before the peacekeepers led me up to the stage. As always, Denio was all smiles when I came up. " I bet you volunteered for someone you know." She said, and I just nodded. " Well here we have it. District Twelve's tributes, Willow Mellark and.." She paused, " Newt Dreger." I said into the microphone. 

The entirety of District Twelve raised their left hand to their mouth, kissing the three middle fingers and raising them up to us. A symbol of good bye, and we'll miss you. A whistle rung out and everyone matched it's haunting tune. It was pretty sobering as they lead us into the Justice Building. My first visitors were my family. My sisters practically tackled me in a hug while they were holding back tears. " You've got to win!" They all told me, and I just nodded. It was hard to see them all cry over me leaving. Mom pulled me into her arms after my sisters let go of me. " I'm sorry, I had too." I told her softly as I felt her start to shake. " I understand sweetie.. but we'll be waiting at home okay?" She said as she cupped my face with her hands. " I love you." She told me, before they were pulled out of the room.

My next visitor was Al. Never one show much emotion, unless needed, he just reached into his pocket. " Take this with you." He said as he put a leather cord into my hand. It was a necklace, and there was a charm on the end. A hand carved Newt. I managed to laugh as I clipped it around my neck. " Remember, You can do this. We all believe in you." He said as he leaned against the wall. " We're going to be rooting for you both, okay?" I nodded. With that, he left. 

I was studying the charm when my last visitor came. It was Rye by himself. He was quiet as he just hugged me tightly. We held onto each other tightly, and he was just telling me thank you over and over again. " It's okay little man. I did it for you." I told him and I could hear that he was crying. " Don't cry, I promise that we'll make it through okay?" Meekly, he nodded and I felt tears well up in my own eyes. " Don't worry.." He held onto me for the rest of the time he could , before the peacekeepers took him away. 

We were then on the train platform waving to those who saw us off. I could only hope that I would make an impression as we took off from our home.


	46. Chapter 46

Eleven- I was dressed in a variety of floral things and I was trembling as I stepped out onto stage. The crowds didn't seem to hate my presence, more of they felt sorry for me. I felt myself choke up as I clutched the cards tightly. " And here I stand before you, dumbfounded and surprised..." I was trembling as I tried to continue on with reading. Everyone would be expecting me to read off the cards and be happy. I set down the cards and took a breath. " District Eleven. Rau and Orchid were good kids. They were my friends in a time of need, and they were a support system in a time when I needed one. I may have not known them for their life. I do not know what memory they left on you, their friends and family, but I do know that they were good people, but in a bad place. My only wish is that I could have prevented what happened to them. Thank you for accepting me, instead of looking down upon me. They will be always in my heart, and in yours. Thank you." I said, before walking off the stage and into the arms of my stylists to let myself cry for a bit. 

Seven- It was an odd choice of outfit, but I did not mind. Aphrodite outfitted me in a flannel shirt along with dark green pants. I felt like I could blend in as I walked out onto stage. Mai and Lee's families were on a stage, gathered next to their images. Lee's siblings looked at me with almost vacant eyes and Mai's parents gave me a soft nod, before I took my place. " District Seven. Your tributes were strong like the wood you harvest. I did not have much contact with Mai, but I know she was loved. She will always be missed, but she lives on in the heart and mind of all of us. Lee was different. He was a friend and an ally when I needed him the most. I may have only given him a small thing, but he gave me something more that than. He had given me a chance to see that there was not only bad in the world, but good. He gave me a chance to live in the face of danger and he helped protect my district partner when I could not. I know that I couldn't have done much to save him. When he came to me, he was already set on his own path. I only wished that I could have made his travels less painful. Now they are home, among the trees and things they grew up with. My only wish is that you would not forget their trials and do not forget the friendship they formed. Thank you." I said ,before I was met with with the shouts of the crowd. I still held the vacant gaze of those young kids, even as I crawled into bed that night, knowing that I wouldn't get much sleep after that.

Five- If I was nervous before, I was scared now. As soon as I walk onto the stage, I was met with shouts and the hatred from the crowd. " Murder!" They screamed at me, and I was shaking at the knees. It wasn't helping that I was in five inch high heels and the crowds looked ready to attack to me at any moment. "And here I stand before you, dumbfounded and surprised. " I started, " Your tributes were courageous. But yet, there was only one winner. I give you my sympathies, but that's all I can give you. We all lost people in the games, friends, family, loved ones. But they on in us until we see them again. Your tributes were courageous and they will never be forgotten." Peacekeepers fought to do their job and they struggled to push back the crowds from storming the stage. " They went in the most honorable way possible. They died the Games, but they showed the strength and courage that your district posses." After my little spiel, I was practically pulled off of the stage by a peacekeeper because of my fear and as I was lead back to the station, I could still hear the echos, " Murder!" ringing in my ear. At least they were right.

One- The closer I got to the Capitol, the more I grew confidant in my spiel. These were the people who ate this up the most. They knew what games entailed, and they happily trained kids to be sent off to their deaths. I wasn't something from the crowds. I had received the same sort of warmth and joy from the everyone in these crowds, that I did when I had first gotten home from the games. It was a shell shock to me. I was also not expecting to stand out so much from the crowds. Everyone was dressed in similar bright and odd clothes that I had seen in the capitol on my first arrival. I was in all black, the mourning color, instead of some bright and happy color. Along with the high necked sweater dress I wore, I wore similar leggings underneath to protect from the swirling flakes of snow. The only thing that stood out were my shoes that were a similar black to the shoes, but they had studs all along the toes. " A touch of the rebel." Venus told me as she clipped on my necklace. At the feast that was held in almost ever district so far, I was treated as if I was an old friend to some of them and to others they thought that I could have been practically family. I was fine for the night, except when I met with the fallen tributes families. An odd tradition to say the least. They were to be celebrating my victory, and in a sense, they were celebrating the ways I had killed both of them. I could say that I was happy that Nike went more peacefully and less gruesome than Julius. They treated me to something odd. They gave me something of Julius' as I left for the train. It was to have a piece of him where ever I went. My own guess is that they were trying to put more guilt on me than before. And that was true as I sat up at night, looking at the thing that lie on my dresser, the sounds of his screams haunting my sleep.


	47. Chapter 47

It was a blustery yet sunny morning on the first day of school for the new class of kids coming in. Parents and kids alike were lined up in front of the ramshackle school. One by one parents let their child go into the school. In the middle of the line was a little girl with one braid down her back. She held onto her father's hand tightly as she slowly inched forward as she fiddled with the edge of the old red dress she wore. " Do I hafta go?" She asked as she looked up at her father, who had been smiling to himself the whole time.

Of course the little girl was too young to know it yet, but she looked like a clone of her mother on the very first day he had seen her. " Yes you have to." He told her as he adjusted the small backpack that barely fit around his arm. She whined and clung to his leg as they inched forward more in the line. Of course he knew the little girl's fears of going to school and being with out her parents for the longest time in her six years of living. He smoothed down her stray hairs that he had so desperately worked to braid down. " Lilo, I promise you'll be fine, and when the day is over, I promise that I'll be right here for you." He said as he managed to pry the little girl off of his leg, and managing not to take the leg with him. In one fell swoop, he picked her up and held her in front of him.

" Do you promise?" She asked him with those wide, doe like eyes. " Of course I promise Lilo." He said as he couldn't help but grin. " Do you pinkie promise?" She raised her left pinky to him. With slight adjustments, he brought his right pinky up and locked it with hers " Pinky promise." During this exchange, they had moved forward more in the line, to the point that they were at the door now. He set her down and kissed her softly. " Here, Lilo, I'll make you a deal. If you can last the whole day, I'll let you have a cookie when you come home. To help, I'm gonna give you this.." He said as he reached up around his neck. Her father pulled out a sliver locket. Willow had seen that same necklace many times, and she had heard both of her parents call it his good luck charm. He took it off and clipped it on her. " But this is your good luck charm!" She protested as she touched the locket. " And now today it's yours, go get'em." With one final forehead kiss, she was alone and inside the school building.

It was scary to be there alone, but she remembered that Mommy told her that there was going to be a lot of scary things, and she had to put on a brave face to get through it. So that's what she did. She pushed back her shoulders back and headed down the hall where all the other kids her age were going. A nice looking lady with blonde hair stood there, waving them into a large room. Willow was nervously chewing on the ends of her hair, when she had bumped into something...or..well..someone. When she spun around she saw a boy her height and he had blonde hair like her daddy. " Hi!" He chirped, a wide smile spreading across his face. She took notice that he had a gap in his front two teeth. " I'm Newt!" He told her as he stuck a hand out to her. " I'm Willow." She replied softly as she shook his hand. " You can come with me." He offered her as the last of the kids had started to pour in the building. Seeing that her only other option was to spend the day alone, she took her chances with him.

The day was much better with a friend by her side. Newt cracked jokes and made her smile whenever she thought of home. It was lunch time and they were let outside to get some of their energy before they day would end with the music assembly. Her and Newt were underneath a large oak tree with their lunches in their laps. " Want some bread?" She asked as she offered up a chunk of bread to him. It was still warm from being taken out of the oven this morning. " Is it stale?" He asked her tentatively. Willow frowned slightly. " No! My daddy made it this morning for me." She said as she pushed the bread into his hands. He took a bite and nodded happily as he chewed.

" Your dad made this?" He asked her, and she nodded proudly. " My daddy's a baker and he's really good at it." She told him as she shoved her part of the bread into her mouth. " I only have a mommy, and she says that daddy went away one day and didn't come back yet.." He said as he looked away from her. She pushed her lip out and then hugged her friend tightly. " It's okay, my daddy can be your daddy.." She assured him, before he turned and hugged her tightly. Their hug was broken by the teacher calling them back inside of the school.

They went back in to the school, and they were all settled into the biggest room in the school. Everyone was crowded in and seats and the teacher began asking for volunteers to sing different songs. Mostly older kids went up, but then she asked for someone to help her sing the Valley Song. She wasn't expecting it, but Newt volunteered her to sing. When she looked panicked, and she started to shake her head at him. " Come on, I heard you hum it all day!" He insisted as the teacher walked over and walked her up front of everyone in the room.

She settled herself onto a large stool and fiddled with her necklace nervously as the teacher began to sing the song. She followed along after the second line and began to sing softly. Willow wasn't as good as her mother or father, but she had the sweet lilt of a child, which gave the song an odd tone to it. She was red faced as she was helped down from the stool. Everyone clapped their hands as she dashed back to her seat next to her friend. After all the songs, it was finally time. She hadn't noticed it, because she had so much fun with her new friend.

Newt pulled her outside and she waited with him to find her father. She found him and she broke out into a dash and leaped into his arms with a laugh. " How'd you enjoy it princess?" He asked her as she turned and pointed to the young boy being pulled away. " I made a friend!" She exclaimed happily as her father's face lit up. " Why don't you tell me all about." He said as he set her down and they began the trek home.

And she did. She told him everything that happened during the day and he couldn't help but smile at her. Too young to know, but he was just happy to know that her first day went well. Back at home, she was perched at her table, eating her cookie, only wanting to see her new friend tomorrow. Her mother congratulated her on her day and smoothed down her hair as she worked." It was good for her to have friends out in the district, instead of being cooped up in the victors village. " Her mother thought as she watched her talk about him happily.

When she had fallen asleep that night, she had no fears of going back to school the next day.


	48. Sneak Peek: Quelled

In the months that followed, I was considered broken. I was broken and no one wanted me expect for my god father. I would go to school and I would be mostly feared. I didn't want to be feared. I wanted friends, I wanted company, I practically craved any sort of contact beside from those in the Victor's Village. 

To save Rye from seeing my melt downs, I took my new home in the village. It was sort of comforting to know that I had so many places to call my own and to lock myself in at. It wasn't like I really could. Almost everyday someone was at my door to check on me. At times it was nice to have someone there to bring me out everything. After a week or so I learned what made it the worse, and did what I could to prevent it. 

There was small padding on the inside of the oven door so when I would close it, it would be so loud and remind me of a cannon. When I would get meat, I would have it drained of it's blood so it wouldn't bring back the thoughts of Rau and Orchid. There were all sorts of odd preventative measures, but there was one thing that they couldn't stop. The Nightmares. Most nights I could barely get any sleep. I would try and crawl into bed, and start off sleeping. Then they would start. It would be simple and then turn into full blown night terrors, reminding me of the things I've done to come back here. I was a monster parading in the mask of my former self. The only real thing that could help was the showers. 

I would strip down and turn on the coldest setting, then just sit there. It was oddly comforting to have the freezing cold water pound away at my back. At other times, I would turn on the hottest setting that I could handle and just scrub. That was only when the terrors were really back. It felt that I had to scrub myself clean to get rid of any thing and every thing that would torment me in my dreams. The scrubbing only worked for a bit , before I felt disgusted at myself and collapse into my own heap of self wallowing and self pity. Those times didn't happen very often, but when they did, it was bad. 

On top on all of dreams and flashes, I couldn't feel much. It wasn't anything that I could understand really. I would be curled up in bed most times after coming home from school. There was times where I would be taken back to my old home and I would bake with my father, or spend time with my brother when he got really worried about me. Most of the time, it was hard to try and be happy or even feel sad. I just felt numb and there would be times where I would go for days with out eating. That's when fail safe would come into place. Newt's eldest sister and mother offered to watch over me if needed. I certainly had enough empty rooms to house them in. 

There was only one time that this had really happened. The night terrors had continued on and on for almost a week, and they hadn't gotten better. I had laid in my bed, not moving or even trying to do anything. When they had found me, I apparently looked like I could have come out of the games once more. In a fit of frustration, and wanting to feel something, I had cut at myself and I had given everyone a bad scare. It had come after a whole built of just things just tumbling, and just wanting to feel something other than numbness or pain after the games. 

The only time I felt something was in the alcohol. The burning that accompanied it as it slid down the back of my throat was the only sort of thing that I felt. Not happiness or sadness, just a deep down burning inside of me. At least with alcohol in my, it was easier to pretend that I was happy or that I was okay. When I got to my low points, I would join my godfather on occasions to share some alcohol with him. I would pay for half the bottle, and I would come over to his home. He wouldn't let me out of the house, and he would always portion it out so I wouldn't over do myself. I learned first had that it was very easy to over do yourself when I had bought my first bottle by myself. I was found by him, passed out on my living room floor. He made the agreement with me that I would drink anything that I would go through him. I would pay half, drink it with him and I wouldn't go any where. 

So that's what we would do. He would get the stuff I could handle and I would drink it in his house. Then when I got to my own limit, I would sleep it off on his couch. It was a sad thing to think that I could find understanding not from my parents who had gone through something similar to me, but in my god father who knew what feeling nothing was like. 

On the day that everything changed, I had gone over to his home. For once, it wasn't to drink or anything like that. He would still be asleep, but I knew that the door would be open for me. To keep my mind busy, I would clean. The only problem was that I kept my own home immaculate and My parents had a cleaning day only on the weekend. So I would come over and clean Haymitch's home. He didn't mind it, he told me that it gave him time to see me when I wasn't drunk. I would just nod my head and get back to cleaning. 

I was about half way through cleaning the wreckage that was the living room, when he had shuffled down stairs. I already cleaned the kitchen and I set on coffee for him. For once, I would make him drink something else than alcohol. I picked up the shattered remains of a sticky bottle, before I heard him speak to me. " Why are you here?" He asked me slowly, as I was continuing on clearing out a path for me to walk through." needed to keep myself busy." I told him softly as I tied up the bag I was dispositing things into. " You should be getting ready.." He said as he made his way towards me. That's when I noticed that he was showered and dressed nicer than normal. " Getting ready for what?" I asked, before my question was answered. 

The screen that was hung up on the wall started to flicker to life. It was a message from the capitol. It was the announcement for the quarter quell. My knees started to shake as the words fell on my ears. The victors would be reaped inside of the normal citizens. The only ones to be reaped would be My parents, my godfather, and me. I felt a hand on my back as my knees were getting weak. I looked up and saw the grim face of my godfather. " That's why, you should go get ready." He said with a small nudge out side. I stumbled out of the home and felt myself shaking. I couldn't tell if I was shaking from the adrenaline or the fear. I didn't want to go back there, but I didn't want to lose one of my parents. 

I numbly made my way back to my parent's home to get ready. Rye was quietly sitting in the living room as Mom and Dad were getting ready. I knew that I still had most of my dresses here, so I went upstairs and I found one of my victory tour outfits, the dress from district eleven. After tugging it over my head and settling down the outfit, My brother came up and told me that it was time to go to the square. 

Along side of my parents and Haymitch, we made our way out of the Victor's Village. As we approached the stage, I could tell that Denio was different than before. I caught sight of the rope bracelet that was on her left wrist. She was going to be apart of this. Everyone was gathered in front of us, females on the left and males on the right, how it always was. Mom and I stood next to each other in quiet, though her hand gripped mine tightly. 

Denio made her speech, before heading to the females bowl. " As always, ladies first. " She said as she dipped her hand in and pulled out one of the two pieces of paper. When she returned to the microphone, she read the name. 

" Willow Mellark." 

There was a stir in the crowd, and people started to shout. When the peacekeepers finally calmed them down, she went over to the males bowl. There was only two options, My father or My godfather. I couldn't think of anything more terrifying to happen to me. I would either die by one of their hands or I would kill one of them. I couldn't do it.

She withdrew the paper and she went back to the microphone in the center of the stage. 

" Peeta Mellark."


End file.
